BBC History Magazine

We three queens

On a hot, sunny day in late June 1559, the king of France rode out in full armour, his horse trimmed with black and white, to participate in a joust. The preceding week had been spent celebrating the wedding of his daughter to the king of Spain and the hard-won treaty that their marriage represented. Fatigued, overheated and suffering from occasional bouts of vertigo, Henry II demanded one more run at the lists. He and his opponent thundered towards each other and struck. A lance splintered, and a large piece of wood became embedded in the king’s skull, just above his eye. He died in agony two weeks later.

The story told by Leah Redmond Chang, however, is not about kings, their wars, their shifts the focus from these well-known histories to the less-well-known stories of three women of this period – queens for whom the demise of Henry II represented a momentous change in their lives and relationships to each other.

You’re reading a preview, subscribe to read more.

More from BBC History Magazine

BBC History Magazine5 min read
Anniversaries
Charles II exacts gruesome vengeance on his father's nemesis Twelve years to the day after Charles I's execution at Whitehall, his son and heir, Charles II, orchestrated an act of posthumous revenge on Oliver Cromwell, one of the chief architects of
BBC History Magazine2 min readAmerican Government
George Washington
■ IN OFFICE 1789–97 ■ NO PARTY AFFILIATION George Washington was the first president in US history – and I'm nominating him as the best, too. I am basing this on his success as a leader, his ability to negotiate conflict in his administration, and mo
BBC History Magazine1 min read
This Issue's Contributors
“Why did Guy Fawkes and the gunpowder conspirators choose violence? It's helpful to see them through the filter of what we know about the radicalisation of extremists today.” Lucy considers why the gunpowder plotters of 1605 resorted to terror on pag

Related Books & Audiobooks