And The White Queen competition winners are…
We announce the winners of our recent competition to win a fabulous edition of Philippa Gregory’s The White Queen worth £150.
We asked our entrants to come up with a Twitter-style, abbreviated version of this passage:
Those of us left in England did not surrender readily. The battles went on and on to resist the false king, this boy of York. My own husband was killed commanding our cavalry, only three years ago at St. Albans. And now I am left a widow and what land and fortune I once called my own has been taken by my motherin-law with the goodwill of the victor, the master of this boy-king, the great puppeteer who is known as the Kingmaker: Richard Neville, Earl of Warwick, who made a king out of this vain boy, now only twenty-two, and will make a hell out of England for those of us who still defend the House of Lancaster.
There are Yorkists in every great house in the land now, and every profitable business or place or tax is in their gift. Their boyking is on the throne, and his supporters form the new court. We, the defeated, are paupers in our own houses and strangers in our own country, our king an exile, our queen a vengeful alien plotting with our old enemy of France. We have to make terms with the tyrant ofYork, while praying that God turns against him and our true king sweeps south with an army for yet another battle.
And the winner is Claire Ridgway from Crawley in West Sussex, who came up with this:
Yorkists, Yorkists everywhere but I won’t give in to the Kingmaker and the young devil on the throne. My prayers are with our true King.
The first prize is a limited edition collectors’ edition of The White Queen, one of only 750 copies, carefully hand-bound in goat skin leather, signed by the author, hand-numbered and printed on beautifully crafted paper that has deckle-edges and watermarks. It’s worth a cool £150. Well done Claire!
And the runner ups, who each receive a hardback copy of The White Queen, suggested these abbreviated versions.
No surrender! Widowed, alone and fearful but battle is coming. I am confident for my family despite evil Warwick. God and Lancaster will prevail #NoToYork
Helen Ginn, from Brighton
A widow, land & fortune gone. Richard Neville, kingmaker, puppeteer has made the boy York king. We defeated, outcast Lancastrians pray, our true king fights on.
Cathey Hayes, from Evesham in Worcestershire
We fought back hard, but faltered – I lost my land and husband, while boyking Edward won the crown. For now the Yorkists rule. But we are ready – and waiting.
Nimer Rashid, from London
We battled on but former allies bankrupted us & my husband was slain. The Yorkists & their tyrannical, Francophile boyking force us to beg. I pray for justice.
Nathan Bradley, from Chatham in Kent
Well done to all of the winners and thank you to everyone to took part!
