Q & A with Karen Harper

You are a self confessed fan of all things Tudor. What do you think is the lure of this period of history?

In the Tudor era, everything was over the top.  A king with six wives? One of the most dysfunctional families in history?  A Virgin Queen ruling without a man?  Beheadings?  Fantastic clothing?  “Absolute power corrupts absolutely!” Amazing personalities.  Beautiful (and sometimes “haunted”) buildings that are well preserved today.  I rest my case.  For some reason, I have always loved the Tudors.

In The Last Boleyn, we see events through the eyes of Mary Boleyn. What inspired this choice?

I wrote this novel more than twenty years ago, after writing an article on Mary for British History Illustrated magazine.  (So that means it was way before Philippa Gregory’s very popular The Other Boleyn Girl.)  At that time, Mary was a fresh figure to “hang a book on.”  She provided a unique viewpoint into the personalities and the era—and she had her own wonderful story to tell apart from her kings and her family.  I love heroines who rise above their circumstances, and she definitely did that.

Who is your favourite of Henry VIII’s queens and why?

Of course, I have to say Anne Boleyn—what a woman, what a story.  And she was half of Elizabeth Tudor’s gene pool!  Anne made many mistakes along the way, but she is so admirable for her bold personality.  In second place, I would put Katherine Parr, a real feminist for her day.  She also greatly influenced Elizabeth, Mary and Edward, trying to put them back into some semblance of a family. Her love for Thomas Seymour is tragic for the more I study him, the less I like him.  But a swashbuckling Lord Admiral of the Navy, handsome and daring—she could not resist.  (By the way, the hero of my Feb. 2011 novel, The Irish Princess, is Lord Edward Clinton, a later Lord Admiral of the Navy, who sweeps my heroine, Gera Fitzgerald off her feet—once again, a true story, real characters.)

What role do you think Thomas Cromwell played in Anne Boleyn’s downfall?

Although Cromwell rose to ultimate power on Anne’s petticoat hems (as well as the fact he was a great administrator), the moment he sensed Henry wanted to be rid of her, he was willing to aid and abet that.  I have such mixed feelings about Cromwell, so brilliant and capable, but, as I said in answering the first question, “Absolute power corrupts absolutely.”  Ironically, of course, Henry turns on Cromwell when it suits him.  Cromwell fascinates me so much I’ve used him in several novels:  not only The Last Boleyn but also The Queen’s Governess.

The Queen’s Governess is a novel about Kat Ashley. What ignited your interest in her?

Kat works well as a heroine for me for the same reason Mary Boleyn did:

She’s a fresh pair of eyes observing the Tudor triumphs and tragedies.  And, again, she has her own wonderful tale to tell which includes a great love story.  Unlike Mary Boleyn, Kat came from a poor family, but she managed to get a good education and, I believe, had more early influence over Elizabeth than any other person.  Since Anne Boleyn was beheaded when Elizabeth was very young, her governess Kat became her champion and her “foster mother.” In the novel I have Elizabeth say, “Anne Boleyn gave me life but Kat Ashley gave me love.”

Your novels have been described as meticulously researched and rich in historical detail.  Tell us a little about the process you follow when researching your novels.

Over the last thirty years, I have built up quite a Tudor library for myself, so I usually start with my own resources.  From our numerous trips to the British Isles, I have many booklets, pamphlets and photos of places we have visited.  I have access to the huge Ohio State University Library, old maps, etc.  Also, I’ve had great luck with interviews and research over the internet.  I’ve interviewed such people as the curator for the Undercroft Museum at Westminster Abbey and the  “digitizer” who keeps the marriage records for Worchester where Shakespeare is recorded as being betrothed to two separate Anne’s—my jumping off point for my novel, Mistress Shakespeare.  How blessed we Tudormaniacs are that England, Scotland and Wales do such a good job preserving their past.

What is the most interesting or peculiar fact you’ve learnt about the Tudors in your research?

Lots of “Tudor trivia” of course—things like how they brushed their teeth.  But the thing that really amazes me is how difficult it was for the Tudors to have privacy.  Our sense of privacy was not valued by people then.  There was a gentleman who stood nearby when Henry VIII, for example, used the “toilet,” in his case, a velvet-covered closed stool.  The Gentleman of the Stool would hand the king a wipe rag.  It took many people to remake and to ready King Henry VII’s bed.  (We too often forget that King Henry VIII was not the first Tudor king.  I’m currently writing a novel set during his era.  When the book ends, Henry Tudor, who will become Henry VIII, is only ten, but we see how he’s being shaped already.)

Do you have a favorite Tudor location that you like to visit?

Several.  I do love the Tower of London, though I feel great oppression every time I enter it.  Hampton Court is great—my husband and I have been lost in the maze there twice.  Hever Castle, the Boleyn home, is fabulous.  In a way, my favorite Tudor location is the National Portrait Gallery at Trafalgar Square, where all my favorite Tudors “hang out.”  Each portrait there is so famous and so revealing.

Are you presently working on any books?

As I mentioned, I’m doing a novel set during the reign of Henry VII, which links the medieval and Tudor periods.  The working title is Mistress of Mourning, and it focuses on a merchant class chandler and Queen Elizabeth of York, wife of Henry VII.  It’s a Tudor era mystery.  Who really killed ‘the princes in the Tower,’ the brothers of Elizabeth of York?  And was Prince Arthur Tudor possibly murdered?  If Arthur had lived, Henry Tudor would never have become Henry VIII.  Ironically, I also write contemporary suspense novels, many set among the Amish.  I love to take my readers into an unusual culture they may not know a lot about, including the fabulous Tudor era.

If you could ask any historical personality a question, what would it be and whom would you ask?

Truthfully, I’d ask Jesus Christ to tell us more about the afterlife.  But if we’re sticking to Tudormania, I’d ask Elizabeth Tudor the reason she never wed. Because she’d seen her father’s horrible treatment of his wives?  Because her husband would take too much of her power?  Because she felt she could never really love a man besides Robert Dudley and he was at first wed and then the rumors of his possible part in his wife’s death would have hounded him and her?  Because she needed to play off the men offered to her by European powers she wanted to keep on a leash?  Maybe all of the above?

The Tudors are endlessly fascinating.

To find out more about Karen Harper visit her official website here.