Book Review – The Queen’s Governess

The Queen’s Governess by Karen Harper (Ebury Press)  ISBN 978-0-0919-4041-6

Kat Ashley comes from a humble background, but is placed with the Champernowne family and this makes her acceptable at court.  Never in her wildest dreams does she think she would land up living as a servant of nobility. She is pursued by the good looking, Tim Seymour, who rapes her. She hates him forever and it is bad luck for her that their paths cross later on.

Kat is instructed to look after the Princess Elizabeth, who should have been a boy. As Anne Boleyn’s daughter, the Princess is banished to a remote part of the castle where Kat instructs her in all subjects. The day Anne Boleyn faces the guillotine; Kat stands in a back row to give her support. Sickened by the spectacle, Kat decides she will never tell Princess Elizabeth that she was present at the beheading. Kat guards all Anne’s secrets, even one that can bring down the monarchy.

In 1553 His Royal Highness Edward Tudor dies a dreadful, painful death. His sister, Princess Elizabeth is in line for the Monarchy. Meanwhile Kat and John, Master of the Horses, fall deeply in love and marry.

I love Philippa Gregory novels and this novel stands next to them. I was fascinated by how uncaring and evil the King is, awed by his selfishness and exhausted when the end came.  What a wonderful writer is Karen Harper and a fabulous storyteller.

Dee Andrew
5/5