Marie Antoinette - Game of Thrones TV - William Shakespeare - Diana - Joan Rivers - Helena Bonham Carter - Elizabeth I & Elizabeth II: Britain’s Golden Queens TV - The Boleyns: A Scandalous Family TV - Author Unknown - 1 Kings 10:1&2 -
I was a queen, and you took away my crown; a wife, and you killed my husband; a mother, and you deprived me of my children. My blood alone remains: take it, but do not make me suffer long. Marie Antoinette
I will do what queens do: I will rule. Game of Thrones s4e5: First of His Name, Queen, HBO 2014
She’s everyone’s queen now. Game of Thrones s8e6: The Iron Throne, Jon Snow
Here did she fall a tear; here, in this place,
I’ll set a bank of rue, sour herb of grace;
Rue, ever for ruth, here shortly shall be seen
In the remembrance of a weeping queen. William Shakespeare, Richard II III iv 104
89,707. Therefore our sometime sister, now our queen,
The imperial jointress to this warlike state,
Have we, as ’twere with a defeated joy, –
With an auspicious and a dropping eye,
With mirth in funeral and with dirge in marriage,
In equal scale weighing delight and dole, –
Taken to wife: nor have we herein barr’d
Your better wisdoms, which have freely gone
With this affair along. For all, our thanks.
Now follows, that you know, young Fortinbras,
Holding a weak supposal of our worth,
Or thinking by our late dear brother’s death
Our state to be disjoint and out of frame … William Shakespeare, Hamlet I ii, Claudius
Each your doing,
So singular in each particular,
Crowns what you are doing in the present deed,
That all your acts are queens. William Shakespeare, The Winter’s Tale IV iii 144
The queen of curds and cream. ibid. IV ii i 161
I’d like to be a queen in people’s hearts but I don’t see myself being queen of this country. Diana, interview Panorama 20th November 1995
Boy George is all England needs – another queen who can’t dress. Joan Rivers
If you’re a queen, you’re powerless, so I’d probably demote myself and go shopping. Helena Bonham Carter
Elizabeth II: Britain’s longest-serving monarch. She’s reigned over this country for nearly 70 years. She’s seen a man land on the moon and 14 prime ministers come and ago. But 400 years earlier there was another Queen Elizabeth. Elizabeth I & II: Britain’s Golden Queens I, Channel 5 2020
They both fought to protect their reigns. ibid.
‘Elizabeth (II) was a minor princess living in a town-house.’ ibid. Kate Williams
Young Elizabeth Tudor is on a tumultuous path of her own. ibid.
Both women are determined to marry to love. ibid.
Philip is named Queen Consort and nothing more … two steps behind his wife. ibid.
Both Queens need to find a way to reach all of the subjects … Mass media they use to re-brand themselves. ibid.
‘An internationalist and a diplomat as skilful as Elizabeth I.’ ibid. Robert Lacey
Both Elizabeth’s reigns are changed with the arrival of two extraordinary women: Mary cf. Elizabeth: we uncover remarkable similarities. Elizabeth I & II: Britain’s Golden Queens II
‘Both women rose from royal obscurity to become popular and successful monarchs.’ ibid. professor
She was our most infamous queen. The second wife of Henry VIII tried on his orders for crimes of adultery and treason. Anne Boleyn was led from her rooms at the Tower of London to her death by an executioner’s sword. The Boleyns: A Scandalous Family, BBC 2021
Thomas Boleyn, the ambitious patriarch; George, the fearless son; the sister Mary, the reluctant mistress; Anne, the calculating courtier; and their brutal uncle Thomas Howard. The family played a dangerous game and paid the ultimate price. But they left a remarkable legacy. ibid.
But neither Thomas Boleyn or Thomas Howard can match the meteoric rise of the third Thomas – Thomas Wolsey, who has won himself a seat in one of the highest circles of court, the Royal Council. ibid.
But in his daughter Anne he has raised a woman whose ambitions will soon outstrip even her father’s. ibid.
Henry VIII has been on the throne for seventeen years. The Boleyns are one of many ambitious families jostling for power at the Tudor court. Led by Thomas Boleyn this is a dynasty on the make. The Bolyens: A Scandalous Family II
‘I think we can sense that Henry is the one that falls in love first; he is attracted, but Anne does what all Boleyns do and makes use of good opportunity.’ ibid. historian
To help to end his marriage, Henry turns to Wolsey, the most senior churchman in England. ibid.
The deposing of Wolsey is the Boleyn family’s greatest victory so far. ibid.
George and Anne think the absolute power enjoyed by the pope should be challenged. The Boleyns: A Scandalous Family III
The family are seen as dangerous iconoclasts, prepared to smash a thousand years of religious tradition to get what they want. ibid.
Most gracious Queen, we thee implore
To go away and sin no more,
But if that effort be too great,
To go away at any rate. Author unknown, epigram on Caroline of Brunswick, cited Francis Burton’s letter to Lord Colchester 15th November 1820
And when the queen of Sheba heard of the fame of Solomon concerning the name of the Lord, she came to prove him with hard questions.
And she came to Jerusalem with a very great train, with camels that bare spices, and very much gold, and precious stones: and when she was come to Solomon, she communed with him of all that was in her heart. I Kings 10:1&2