Q & A with Sandra Worth

What sparked your interest in the Wars of the Roses?

Hi, Natalie! Thank you inviting me here today.

The painting I saw of King Richard III in the National Portrait Gallery in London is what sparked my interest in the period.  There was such emotion in his eyes. No way could this king have been the serial killer the Tudors claimed he was! That portrait gave the lie to Shakespeare’s depiction of Richard III as an ugly hunchback and set me on my odyssey, and the more I read, the more difficult it became to reconcile his actions with his reputation in history as an evil villain. I soon realized the truth had been perverted to promote a political agenda and that a great injustice had been done. I was hooked.

The King's Daughter by Sandra Worth

Your novel ‘The King’s Daughter’ is about Elizabeth of York. What makes her such a fascinating subject?

It’s her mystery and the strangeness of her life. She was the daughter, sister, niece, wife, and mother of kings and nothing much is known about her. She is said to have loved Richard III, but she married the man who killed him. She came face to face with Perkin Warbeck, who might have been her brother, Richard, Duke of York, yet no diaries, no letters, no papers of any kind survive to tell us how she felt about it—or about anything else. She intrigued me.

I found it very curious that so little should be known about Elizabeth of York when so much is known about her husband, Henry VII, and her mother-in-law, Margaret Beaufort, and everyone else around her. Her biographer had to resort to novelistic techniques to cover the long blanks in her life. I found that odd. The historical references to her “invisible court,” the lack of knowledge about her and her mother’s comment on her disappointment in her daughter’s marriage made me suspect that Elizabeth was held captive in Henry’s court. I wanted to piece her puzzle together and see what emerged. And what emerged was The King’s Daughter.

In your opinion, was Richard III a villain or a hero?

Definitely a hero. His life brimmed with idealism and honorable deeds. He had a passion for justice. He took power from the nobles and the Church to bring justice to the common man. He gave us bail and laws that became the foundation of our democracy. Despite Shakespeare’s portrayal to the contrary, he lived and died bravely, with physical and moral courage. He must have known he was making powerful enemies by clipping the wings of his nobles and the Church, but he did it anyway, because it was the right thing to do. It cost him his throne.

Definitely a hero.

Do you believe that both of Edward IV’s sons perished in the Tower of London or is it possible that Richard, Duke of York, survived?

I have become convinced that the so-called “Perkin Warbeck” was really who he claimed to be—the second son of King Edward IV. I believe Richard III whisked him abroad to safety after his brother Edward died, but I don’t believe Richard III murdered Edward. The boy was known to have an infection of the jaw. In those days, in the absence of antibiotics, infections like that spread to the brain and killed people. After Buckingham’s rebellion, King Richard may have decided his younger nephew should go into hiding for his own safety. Then came Bosworth. There’s a tradition that one or both of the prince were hidden away in the north and that King Richard was seen talking to a child in his tent on the eve of battle. I believe Prince Richard was this child, and that he was taken abroad so he could come back to reclaim his father’s throne when he was grown.

The Rose of York: Fall from Grace, the third book in my stand-alone trio of novels on Richard III, presents this narrative.

Your latest novel, ‘Pale Rose of England: a novel of the Tudors’ is set in early Tudor England. What is the lure of this period?

It’s still part of the Wars of the Roses, albeit the end of the Wars of the Roses.  With the executions of Perkin Warbeck and the Earl of Warwick, the Yorkist threat to the Tudors was put to rest forever, securing the Tudor dynasty.  From this point on began what I feel is the “real” Tudor period, when the Tudors could wield absolute power without regard to consequences.

Your characters are based on real historical figures. Do you feel that the facts constrain your writing in any way? Or do they assist you in your creativity?

The facts pose a heavy constraint! It would be much easier to bend history to suit my convenience. Then I could surprise the reader with twists and turns they don’t expect. But I feel an obligation to remain true to the historical record. Since I’m writing about people who really lived, I don’t feel it’s fair to them to make up events that never happened.  I make every effort to come as close as I can to what I assess as their real motivations for doing what they did. So, it is in interpretation of events where my account may differ from others.

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

I always begin by reading the historical texts. These include primary and secondary sources. For The Rose of York Trilogy, I obtained privileges at the British Museum and spent as much time as I could perusing various documents that are not available elsewhere. Naturally, since I live in Texas, I couldn’t just pop over to London and spend as long as I liked there, but those visits helped. Over the ten years that I researched the period, I interviewed scholars such as Peter Hammond, and Bertram Fields, and made countless trips to visit the sites I write about in my books.

Have you visited places associated with the characters in your books? If so, do you have a favourite location?

I make it a point to visit the places I write about. I find it vitally necessary to retrace my character’s footsteps. It gives me a feel for the lay of the land, the vegetation, the scent of the air, and what my character may have seen and felt as he went about his life. It never fails to help. Sometimes, if I’m lucky, standing there where they stood, and gazing on what they saw, a scene will leap into my mind. Those are the most rewarding moments.

It’s hard to choose a favorite location from all the beautiful places I’ve been privileged to visit, but St. Michael’s Mount is probably my most favorite. One day I hope to go back with my family. It is truly a most beautiful, and evocative place. Climbing those massive stone steps hewn into the mountainside with the fierce wind from the sea blowing in my face, I was aware with every breath and every step I took that Catherine and Richard had climbed those same steps before me five hundred years earlier. I had the strongest sense of them in that place. Not only did I see what they saw as they looked around, but I felt what they might have felt as they made their way up to the fortress on the Mount with the dreams that lived in their hearts.

What book/s do you recommend for people wanting to learn more about the Wars of the Roses?

It’s a vast subject, so I’ll limit my recommendations, and divide them into two groups: initial reading to gain an understanding of the subject, and further reading to enhance the knowledge gained. Some tedious accounts exist on the Wars of the Roses, but all my recommendations here represent very easy and enjoyable reading.

Initial Reading:

Josephine Tey, Daughter of Time; Paul Murray Kendal, Richard the Third (the biography not the other one); Audrey Williamson, The Mystery of the Princes (Golden Dagger Award Winner); Anne Wroe, The Perfect Prince; Diana Kleyn, Richard of England (hard to get).

Further Reading

Cora Scofield, The Life and Reign of Edward IV, (2 vols.); Sir James Ramsey, Lancaster and York; Elizabeth Jenkins, The Princes in the Tower; Mary Clive This Sun of York; David MacGibbon, Elizabeth Woodville; Bertram Fields, Royal Blood.

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

What a wonderful question! No one has ever asked me this before. There is someone in my ancestry who is very special to me personally, and I do have a question to pose to them, if I could. But since they will be the subject of a future book, I can’t talk about them yet. Instead, let me say this. It is John Neville, Lord Montagu, Earl of Northumberland who I would like to meet, and though I feel I know him very well (he was the subject of my Lady of the Roses) I would ask him what was his greatest regret.

To learn more about Sandra Worth visit her official website here.