The 'Queens in Context: Women in 16th-century Europe' lecture series (of five lectures) takes as its inspiration our current exhibition Six Lives: The Stories of Henry VIII’s Queens, which chronicles the representation of Katherine of Aragon, Anne Boleyn, Jane Seymour, Anne of Cleves, Katherine Howard and Katherine Parr throughout history and popular culture.
This lecture series places the queens in their wider historical context within the society of 16th-century Europe, and is delivered by historians, academics and authors, giving their insights into a wide variety of related topics. From uncovering the lives of ordinary Tudor women, to shining a light on the powerful individuals connected to the queens, the series offers the chance to engage more deeply with the history of women’s lives and legacies in this fascinating period.
This lecture is third in the series but can also be booked separately.
Every Tudor Queen had ladies-in-waiting. They were her confidantes and her chaperones. Only the Queen's ladies had the right to enter her most private chambers, spending hours helping her to get dressed and undressed, caring for her clothes and jewels, listening to her secrets. But they also held a unique power. A quiet word behind the scenes, an appropriately timed gift, a well-negotiated marriage alliance were all forms of political agency wielded expertly by women.
In this lecture, Nicola Clark explores the daily lives of ladies-in-waiting, revealing the secrets of recruitment, costume, what they ate, where (and with whom) they slept. We meet María de Salinas, who travelled to England with Catherine of Aragon when just a teenager and spied for her during the divorce from Henry VIII. Anne Boleyn's lady-in-waiting Jane Parker was instrumental in the execution of not one, but two queens. And maid-of-honour Anne Basset kept her place through the last four consorts, negotiating the conflicting loyalties of her birth family, her mistress the Queen, and even the desires of the King himself. As Henry changed wives and changed the very fabric of the country's structure besides, these women had to make choices about loyalty that simply didn't exist before.
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2024-07-11 13:00 2024-07-11 13:00 Europe/London Waiting Game: the untold story of the women who served the Tudor queens In this lecture, Nicola Clark explores the daily lives of ladies-in-waiting, revealing the secrets of recruitment, costume, what they ate, where (and with whom) they slept. https://www.ianvisits.co.uk/calendar/2024/07/11/waiting-game-the-untold-story-of-the-women-who-served-the-tudor-queens-385154 National Portrait Gallery,St Martin's Place, London,London,Location
London,
WC2H 0HE
Nearest tube and train stations to National Portrait Gallery
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