Last episode of the last series' of The Tudors!

[FlaminGreatGallah]

Oh no

Whoever said on the previous thread that little Edward is as Irish as can be (to be sure) was quite right. I annoy comment on that to DH all the time. He is beautiful though.

Now does the victory of the English against the French live on in your hearts and minds in the same way that Agincourt does?

No it does not; sorry Henry!

I've always wondered about the relationships between Mary, Elizabeth and their Father. Both were disinherited by him. Mary's mother was cruelly treated at the end of her life and apparently Henry refused to let Mary see her when she was dying.
And Elizabeth must have known about how her mother died and why, unless she was lied to and told her mother was wicked and evil?
Yet in the Series the relationships are shown as quite affectionate. Though when Henry is saying his goodbyes, Mary is moved to tears and Katherine comforts her where as Elizabeth seems quite unmoved and walks away at the end. There was certainly no explanation for this in the series, IMO - what do the history books say?

I've read that Elizabeth kept a locket with her mother's picture in it with her and was buried with it so I dont think she thought she was 'evil'.

I dont think Mary and Elizabeth ever liked each other, although Mary could have had Elizabeth executed when she was queen but didn't so must have felt some affection/loyalty.

I think Mary was closer to her father than Elizabeth.

Elizabeth definitely knew her mother was executed and why. She was also effectively demoted from 'Princess Elizabeth' to 'Lady Elizabeth'. It would appear from her actions towards the Bolelyn family that she bore her mother's family no ill-will.

She was old enough to remember Katherine Howard's execution.

She was quite close to Katherine Parr.

Did Elizabeth execute a lot of people? I was always under the impression that the rampant executions (at least those on religious grounds) stopped after Mary. Mind you, I may have gotten this impression from the movie Elizabeth...

She was much more reserved wrt to executions, to be fair. She was very clever, and was seen by most as being quite fair, as she also had a strong conscience. She had a jealous streak and a suspicious streak, the latter of which is certainly understandable, and certainly imprisoned more than a few, but her reign was definitely not the bloodbath her father's was.

Thanks guys - that makes a lot of sense!

I guess any animosity between the sisters may well have been political, with Mary being a staunch Catholic and Elizabeth being a protestant. Mary would have had reason to get rid of Elizabeth, with her being without issue and Elizabeth being next in line to the throne so perhaps she loved her enough not to have her quietly dispatched or publicly executed for heresy.

It could have been the reluctance as well to shed the blood of a relation, after all Elizabeth was very reluctant to execute Mary QOS, even though she did sign the execution warrant she apparently went into a rage when someone put it into action.

Wasn't Elizabeth related to the Duke of Norfolk she executed?

And Mary executed Lady Jane Grey, her innocent cousin.

Henry VIII specifically executed members of his extended family so they couldn't be a threat to his crown. Think of poor Lady Salisbury and her awful execution.

I wonder what they thought about blood connections and such then since they didn't know about genetics or anything.

I think it is a safe bet that the nobility were all related to the throne in some way or another.

Yeah I remember Lady Salisbury

And Henry didn't just stop at relations, after all Thomas More was a close confident and mentor to him!

I have just watched the last episode. I am distraught. And now what am I going to watch for the next 2 years?

When Henry flashed back to glimpses of when he was younger - superbe. I had forgotten how totally gorgeous JRM is.