Philippa Gregory's 'Cousins' War' series will become a Starz TV show

The series, titled 'The White Queen' after one of the novels in the trilogy, will run for 10 episodes.

'The White Queen,' one of the books in Philippa Gregory's Cousins' War series, is the story of Elizabeth Woodville, who became the wife of King Edward IV.

Historical novelist Philippa Gregory’s British history series will be the basis of a new Starz miniseries titled “The White Queen,” which will premiere this August.

“Queen” will follow the events of Gregory’s books “The Lady of the Rivers,” “The White Queen,” and “The Red Queen,” which are known as the "Cousins’ War" series. “Red” centers on Margaret Beaufort, the mother of the first Tudor king Henry VII, while “White” follows Elizabeth Woodville, who became queen by marrying King Edward IV. “Rivers” is the story of Jacquetta of Luxembourg, Elizabeth’s mother. The conflict around which the series is built is the War of the Roses, in which the houses of York and Lancaster struggled for the English throne.

The series will run for 10 episodes and is produced in tandem with the BBC.

“All are heroines in the real sense of the word,” Gregory said of her characters in a statement. “They were courageous and determined and went through extraordinary danger, but they never abandoned their unwavering desire to return their family to power.... I think people are going to be surprised to see these remarkably powerful women when traditional history tells you female were simply relegated to be victims or wives or mothers.”

The series stars “Ripper Street” actress Amanda Hale as Margaret Beaufort; “Albert Nobbs” actress Janet McTeer as Jacquetta of Luxembourg; actress Rebecca Ferguson as Elizabeth Woodville; Max Irons of “Red Riding Hood” as Edward IV; and “The Tudors” actor James Frain as Lord Warwick, who serves as mentor to Edward IV.

“Queen” will premiere Aug. 10.

Gregory is best-known for her novel “The Other Boleyn Girl,” which followed Anne’s sister Mary Boleyn and her relationship with her more famous sibling and was released in 2001. It was released as a movie in 2008 starring Natalie Portman as Anne, Scarlett Johansson as Mary, and Eric Bana as King Henry VIII.

You've read  of  free articles. Subscribe to continue.
Real news can be honest, hopeful, credible, constructive.
What is the Monitor difference? Tackling the tough headlines – with humanity. Listening to sources – with respect. Seeing the story that others are missing by reporting what so often gets overlooked: the values that connect us. That’s Monitor reporting – news that changes how you see the world.

Dear Reader,

About a year ago, I happened upon this statement about the Monitor in the Harvard Business Review – under the charming heading of “do things that don’t interest you”:

“Many things that end up” being meaningful, writes social scientist Joseph Grenny, “have come from conference workshops, articles, or online videos that began as a chore and ended with an insight. My work in Kenya, for example, was heavily influenced by a Christian Science Monitor article I had forced myself to read 10 years earlier. Sometimes, we call things ‘boring’ simply because they lie outside the box we are currently in.”

If you were to come up with a punchline to a joke about the Monitor, that would probably be it. We’re seen as being global, fair, insightful, and perhaps a bit too earnest. We’re the bran muffin of journalism.

But you know what? We change lives. And I’m going to argue that we change lives precisely because we force open that too-small box that most human beings think they live in.

The Monitor is a peculiar little publication that’s hard for the world to figure out. We’re run by a church, but we’re not only for church members and we’re not about converting people. We’re known as being fair even as the world becomes as polarized as at any time since the newspaper’s founding in 1908.

We have a mission beyond circulation, we want to bridge divides. We’re about kicking down the door of thought everywhere and saying, “You are bigger and more capable than you realize. And we can prove it.”

If you’re looking for bran muffin journalism, you can subscribe to the Monitor for $15. You’ll get the Monitor Weekly magazine, the Monitor Daily email, and unlimited access to CSMonitor.com.

QR Code to Philippa Gregory's 'Cousins' War' series will become a Starz TV show
Read this article in
https://www.csmonitor.com/Books/chapter-and-verse/2013/0531/Philippa-Gregory-s-Cousins-War-series-will-become-a-Starz-TV-show
QR Code to Subscription page
Start your subscription today
https://www.csmonitor.com/subscribe