Listen free for 30 days
-
Katherine Swynford
- The Story of John of Gaunt and His Scandalous Duchess
- Narrated by: Judith Boyd
- Length: 16 hrs and 34 mins
- Unabridged Audiobook
- Categories: History, Europe
Add to basket failed.
Add to wishlist failed.
Remove from wishlist failed.
Follow podcast failed
Unfollow podcast failed
Listen with a free trial
Buy Now for £24.49
No valid payment method on file.
We are sorry. We are not allowed to sell this product with the selected payment method
Listeners also enjoyed...
-
The Captive Queen
- By: Alison Weir
- Narrated by: Julia Franklin
- Length: 19 hrs
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
France, 1152. A beautiful woman is escaping through France, leaving behind two young daughters and a shattered marriage. This woman is Eleanor, Duchess of Aquitaine, and her sole purpose is to marry the man she loves, Henry Plantagenet, a man destined for greatness as King of England. Theirs is a union founded on lust which will create a great empire. It will also create the most notoriously vicious marriage in history.
-
-
Spoilt by narrator
- By Nicola on 02-03-11
-
Take Six Girls: The Lives of the Mitford Sisters
- By: Laura Thompson
- Narrated by: Maggie Mash
- Length: 15 hrs and 50 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
They were known as the Mitford sisters: Nancy, Pamela, Diana, Unity, Jessica and Deborah. Born into country-house privilege in the early years of the 20th century, they became prominent as 'bright young things' in the high society of interwar London. Then, as the shadows crept over 1930s Europe, the stark - and very public - differences in their outlooks came to symbolize the political polarities of a dangerous decade.
-
-
This Book Does Add Something New
- By Alison on 25-07-16
-
The Swift and the Harrier
- By: Minette Walters
- Narrated by: Emma Gregory
- Length: 14 hrs and 52 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Dorset, 1642. When bloody civil war breaks out between the king and Parliament, families and communities across England are riven by different allegiances. A rare few choose neutrality. One such is Jayne Swift, a Dorset physician from a royalist family, who offers her services to both sides in the conflict. Through her dedication to treating the sick and wounded, regardless of belief, Jayne becomes a witness to the brutality of war and the devastation it wreaks.
-
-
Excellent
- By GC on 13-11-21
-
A Great and Terrible King
- Edward I and the Forging of Britain
- By: Marc Morris
- Narrated by: Ralph Lister
- Length: 18 hrs and 28 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
This is the first major biography for a generation of a truly formidable king. Edward I is familiar to millions as 'Longshanks', conqueror of Scotland and nemesis of Sir William Wallace ('Braveheart'). Edward was born to rule England, but believed that it was his right to rule all of Britain. His reign was one of the most dramatic of the entire Middle Ages, leading to war and conquest on an unprecedented scale and leaving a legacy of division that has lasted from his day to our own.
-
-
Great stuff
- By Anonymous User on 27-10-21
-
Flappers
- By: Judith Mackrell
- Narrated by: Julia Franklin
- Length: 18 hrs and 16 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Glamorised, mythologised, and demonised - the women of the 1920s were determined to reinvent the way they lived. Flappers focuses on six women who between them exemplified the range and daring of that generation’s spirit. Diana Cooper, Nancy Cunard, Tallulah Bankhead, Zelda Fitzgerald, Josephine Baker and Tamara de Lempicka were far from typical flappers. Talented, reckless, and wilful, with personalities that transcended their class and background, they rewrote their destinies in remarkable, entertaining and tragic ways.
-
-
Great stories and fascinating social history
- By Jim on 29-12-14
-
Queens of the Crusades: Eleanor of Aquitaine and Her Successors
- By: Alison Weir
- Narrated by: Esther Wane
- Length: 17 hrs and 42 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
The Plantagenet queens of England played a role in some of the most dramatic events in our history. Crusading queens, queens in rebellion against their king, queen seductresses, learned queens, queens in battle, queens who enlivened England with the romantic culture of southern Europe - these determined women often broke through medieval constraints to exercise power and influence, for good and sometimes for ill.
-
-
Eleanor of aquitaine
- By grannie on 23-07-21
-
The Captive Queen
- By: Alison Weir
- Narrated by: Julia Franklin
- Length: 19 hrs
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
France, 1152. A beautiful woman is escaping through France, leaving behind two young daughters and a shattered marriage. This woman is Eleanor, Duchess of Aquitaine, and her sole purpose is to marry the man she loves, Henry Plantagenet, a man destined for greatness as King of England. Theirs is a union founded on lust which will create a great empire. It will also create the most notoriously vicious marriage in history.
-
-
Spoilt by narrator
- By Nicola on 02-03-11
-
Take Six Girls: The Lives of the Mitford Sisters
- By: Laura Thompson
- Narrated by: Maggie Mash
- Length: 15 hrs and 50 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
They were known as the Mitford sisters: Nancy, Pamela, Diana, Unity, Jessica and Deborah. Born into country-house privilege in the early years of the 20th century, they became prominent as 'bright young things' in the high society of interwar London. Then, as the shadows crept over 1930s Europe, the stark - and very public - differences in their outlooks came to symbolize the political polarities of a dangerous decade.
-
-
This Book Does Add Something New
- By Alison on 25-07-16
-
The Swift and the Harrier
- By: Minette Walters
- Narrated by: Emma Gregory
- Length: 14 hrs and 52 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Dorset, 1642. When bloody civil war breaks out between the king and Parliament, families and communities across England are riven by different allegiances. A rare few choose neutrality. One such is Jayne Swift, a Dorset physician from a royalist family, who offers her services to both sides in the conflict. Through her dedication to treating the sick and wounded, regardless of belief, Jayne becomes a witness to the brutality of war and the devastation it wreaks.
-
-
Excellent
- By GC on 13-11-21
-
A Great and Terrible King
- Edward I and the Forging of Britain
- By: Marc Morris
- Narrated by: Ralph Lister
- Length: 18 hrs and 28 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
This is the first major biography for a generation of a truly formidable king. Edward I is familiar to millions as 'Longshanks', conqueror of Scotland and nemesis of Sir William Wallace ('Braveheart'). Edward was born to rule England, but believed that it was his right to rule all of Britain. His reign was one of the most dramatic of the entire Middle Ages, leading to war and conquest on an unprecedented scale and leaving a legacy of division that has lasted from his day to our own.
-
-
Great stuff
- By Anonymous User on 27-10-21
-
Flappers
- By: Judith Mackrell
- Narrated by: Julia Franklin
- Length: 18 hrs and 16 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Glamorised, mythologised, and demonised - the women of the 1920s were determined to reinvent the way they lived. Flappers focuses on six women who between them exemplified the range and daring of that generation’s spirit. Diana Cooper, Nancy Cunard, Tallulah Bankhead, Zelda Fitzgerald, Josephine Baker and Tamara de Lempicka were far from typical flappers. Talented, reckless, and wilful, with personalities that transcended their class and background, they rewrote their destinies in remarkable, entertaining and tragic ways.
-
-
Great stories and fascinating social history
- By Jim on 29-12-14
-
Queens of the Crusades: Eleanor of Aquitaine and Her Successors
- By: Alison Weir
- Narrated by: Esther Wane
- Length: 17 hrs and 42 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
The Plantagenet queens of England played a role in some of the most dramatic events in our history. Crusading queens, queens in rebellion against their king, queen seductresses, learned queens, queens in battle, queens who enlivened England with the romantic culture of southern Europe - these determined women often broke through medieval constraints to exercise power and influence, for good and sometimes for ill.
-
-
Eleanor of aquitaine
- By grannie on 23-07-21
-
Lancaster and York
- The Wars of the Roses
- By: Alison Weir
- Narrated by: Maggie Mash
- Length: 22 hrs and 9 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Lancater and York is a riveting account of the Wars of the Roses, from beloved historian Alison Weir. The war between the houses of Lancaster and York was characterised by treachery, deceit, and bloody battles. Alison Weir's lucid and gripping account focuses on the human side of history. At the centre of the book stands Henry VI, the pious king whose mental instability led to political chaos, and his wife Margaret of Anjou, who took up her arms in her husband's cause and battled in a violent man's world.
-
-
Incredible Events - Oddly Dull in Presentation
- By Alison on 04-11-14
-
Mary Boleyn
- By: Alison Weir
- Narrated by: Maggie Mash
- Length: 13 hrs and 11 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Mary Boleyn was the mistress of two kings, Francois I of France and Henry VIII of England, and sister to Anne Boleyn, Henry VIII’s second wife. In this astonishing and riveting biography, Alison Weir’s extensive research gives a new and detailed portrayal, in which she recounts that, contrary to popular belief, Mary was entirely undeserving of her posthumous notoriety as a great whore.
-
-
Scholarly biography
- By Kirstine on 18-02-12
-
Isabella
- The She-Wolf of France
- By: Alison Weir
- Narrated by: Lisette Lecat
- Length: 21 hrs and 45 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Here is the first full-length biography of a much maligned but astonishingly colourful Queen of England. In Newgate Street, in the city of London, stand the meagre ruins of Christ Church. On the same site once stood a royal mausoleum set to rival Westminster Abbey in the 14th century. Among the many crowned heads buried there was Isabella of France, Edward II's queen - one of the most notorious femme fatales in history. But how did she acquire her evil reputation? And is it justified?
-
-
Excellent Historical Work
- By Gregory on 18-02-11
-
Elizabeth of York
- By: Alison Weir
- Narrated by: Maggie Mash
- Length: 22 hrs and 53 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Elizabeth of York would have ruled England, but for the fact that she was a woman. One of the key figures of the Wars of the Roses, daughter of Edward IV and Elizabeth Woodville, she married Henry Tudor to bring peace to a war-torn England. In Elizabeth of York: The First Tudor Queen, Alison Weir builds a portrait of this beloved queen, placing her in the context of the magnificent, ceremonious, often brutal world she inhabited.
-
-
Annoying narrator and could have been edited a lot
- By spanglypink on 20-08-14
-
Henry VIII: King and Court
- By: Alison Weir
- Narrated by: Phyllida Nash
- Length: 25 hrs and 41 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
This magnificent biography of Henry VIII is set against the cultural, social and political background of his court - the most spectacular court ever seen in England - and the splendour of his many sumptuous palaces. An entertaining narrative packed with colourful description and a wealth of anecdotal evidence, but also a comprehensive analytical study of the development of both monarch and court during a crucial period in English history.
-
-
“England’s Nero”
- By Mary Carnegie on 10-09-18
-
Elizabeth of York: The Last White Rose
- Tudor Rose, Book 1
- By: Alison Weir
- Narrated by: Nicky Diss
- Length: 20 hrs and 6 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Eldest daughter of the royal House of York, Elizabeth dreams of a crown to call her own. But when her beloved father, King Edward, dies suddenly, her destiny is rewritten. Her family's enemies close in. Two young princes are murdered in the Tower. Then her uncle seizes power—and vows to make Elizabeth his queen. But another claimant seeks the throne, the upstart son of the rival royal House of Lancaster. Marriage to this Henry Tudor would unite the white rose of York and the red of Lancaster—and change everything.
-
-
As good as any of the 6 Wives of Henry VIII
- By A Scott on 19-05-22
-
Six Tudor Queens: Katherine of Aragon, the True Queen
- Six Tudor Queens, Book 1
- By: Alison Weir
- Narrated by: Maggie Mash
- Length: 27 hrs and 43 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
The lives of Henry VIII's queens make for dramatic stories, and Alison Weir writes a series of novels that offer insights into the real lives of the six wives based on extensive research and new theories. In all the romancing, has anyone regarded the evidence that Anne Boleyn did not love Henry VIII? Or that Prince Arthur, Katherine of Aragon's first husband, who is said to have loved her, in fact cared so little for her that he willed his personal effects to his sister?
-
-
Fabulous
- By Erica Oliver on 14-11-16
-
Innocent Traitor
- By: Alison Weir
- Narrated by: Patience Tomlinson
- Length: 17 hrs and 52 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Lady Jane Grey was born into the most dangerous of times. Child of a scheming father and a ruthless mother for whom she was a pawn in a dynastic game with the highest stakes, she lived a life in thrall to political machinations and lethal religious fervour. Growing up with the future Queen Elizabeth and her reluctant nemesis, Mary, she soon learned the truth of the values imparted to her by Henry VIII's last Queen, Katherine Parr.
-
-
Truly an outstanding performance
- By Lisa on 01-09-17
-
A Dangerous Inheritance
- By: Alison Weir
- Narrated by: Maggie Mash
- Length: 25 hrs and 39 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
The year is 1562. Lady Catherine Grey, cousin of Elizabeth I, has just been arrested along with her husband, Edward. Their crime is to have secretly married and produced a child who might threaten the Queen's title. Alone in her chamber at the Tower of London, Catherine hears ghostly voices; echoes, she thinks, of a crime committed in the same room where she is imprisoned.
-
-
It does get better
- By Jo on 23-08-13
-
A Marriage of Lions
- An Auspicious Match. An Invitation to War.
- By: Elizabeth Chadwick
- Narrated by: Helen Stern
- Length: 16 hrs and 54 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Raised at the court of King Henry III as a chamber lady to the queen, young Joanna of Swanscombe's life changes forever when she comes into an inheritance far above all expectations, including her own. Now a wealthy heiress, Joanna's arranged marriage to the king's charming, tournament-loving half-brother, William de Valence, immediately stokes the flames of political unrest as more established courtiers object to the privileges bestowed on newcomers.
-
-
A beautiful and moving piece of historical fiction
- By Wayne on 13-09-21
-
Katherine
- The classic historical romance
- By: Anya Seton
- Narrated by: Diana Bishop
- Length: 24 hrs and 34 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Katherine comes to the court of Edward III at the age of 15. The naïve convent-educated orphan of a penniless knight is dazzled by the jousts and the entertainments of court. Nevertheless, Katherine is beautiful, and she turns the head of the King's favourite son John of Gaunt. But he is married, and she is soon to be betrothed. A few years later their paths cross again and this time their passion for each other cannot be denied or suppressed.
-
-
Please give us more Anya Seton!
- By C on 07-09-12
-
The Fears of Henry IV
- The Life of England's Self-Made King
- By: Ian Mortimer
- Narrated by: James Cameron Stewart
- Length: 22 hrs and 14 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
King Henry IV survived at least eight plots to dethrone or kill him in the first six years of his reign. However, he had not always been so unpopular. In his youth he had been a great chivalric champion and crusader. In 1399, at the age of 32, he was greeted as the saviour of the realm when he ousted from power the tyrannical King Richard II. But Henry had to contend with men who supported him only as long as they could control him; when they failed, they plotted to kill him. Adversaries also tried to take advantage of his questionable right to the crown.
-
-
I learned a lot about two Reigns
- By Kirstine on 27-03-19
Summary
But Katherine Swynford was much more than that. She was the mother of the Beauforts, and through them the ancestress of the Yorkist Kings, the Tudors, the Stuarts and every other sovereign since - a prodigious legacy which has shaped the history of Britain.
Critic reviews
"Alison Weir's hugely popular history books are as gripping as novels." ( The Times, London)
"Alison Weir is one of our greatest popular historians." ( The Daily Mail)
More from the same
What listeners say about Katherine Swynford
Average customer ratingsReviews - Please select the tabs below to change the source of reviews.
-
Overall
- Emma
- 21-04-09
Disappointing
This is a fabulous book, and I was really looking forward to having the audio version of it. What a disappointing narration! I can best describe it a plonky, a bit like someone reading to little children, not really fitting for a book about such a fascinating woman. I didn't even make it past the first hour, a waste of a credit, but never mind...
17 people found this helpful
-
Overall
- Richard
- 16-03-10
History made dreary.
I really wanted to like this audiobook, having heard about the book on BBC Radio's Woman's Hour and finding the discussion of the subject fascinating. Sadly it turns out to be one of those books that doesn't do well when read aloud. All the dates, asides and, I presume, footnotes which one can either choose to skip, scan or study by choice when reading a book become turgid in the extreme when being read out in the same, measured tones. I persevered longer than the one hour mentioned in another review - but really, really wish I hadn't. Definite waste of a credit, but at least I had not paid the actual cash for it. For a much better aural experience I heartily recommend Ian Mortimer's The Time Traveller's Guide to Medieval England: A Handbook for Visitors to the Fourteenth Century. That really is a treat for the ears.
7 people found this helpful
-
Overall
- Helen
- 13-04-13
As good as the 1st time
I first read this book over 40ys ago and decided to have the luxury of having it read to me this time. I missed so much 1st time round, this time I realised that this wasn't just the story of a great love but a social history of its time. It has fired my imagination and interest and I now want to revisit this whole period of history. I just love a book that leads you to more.
3 people found this helpful
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- Dorothea Gerhards
- 21-08-19
Very interesting but title should focus on John of
I enjoyed the book for most parts but feel that the title is misleading as it focusses on John of Gaunt rather than Katherine Swynford - understandably so as there remains so little evidence of her actual life. However, I feel this should be reflected in the book's title.
The speaker should not attempt different accents as it annoys abd distracts and I also found the spelling of names and equations to today's money values very distracting.
2 people found this helpful
-
Overall
- Miss N. Farooqui
- 13-04-13
Katherine Swynford
Although not much is known about Katherine Swynford, Alison Weir manages to give the reader a detailed account of her life before and after she became duchess of Lancaster. The narration was good. A must read.
2 people found this helpful
-
Overall
- Arcticangel.
- 03-03-13
Nothing of her character
This was a little disappointing. No doubt the facts were all quite correct and in the right order, but I know nothing more of the fascinating Katherine Swynford than I did before. I knew all the dates, I wanted more insight into her as a living being. I got none. It read like a history lecture, not all that well delivered.
2 people found this helpful
-
Overall
- janine
- 25-12-12
The Amazing Katherine Swynford
What a fabulous story. The history of our monarchy which all spawned from this amazing woman. I loved listening to this book. I confess I had found "reading" the book too tedious. All those dates and tooing and froing, pretty hard to grasp, but listening to the story .... well I now have it all in my head ( and my heart).
Well read by Judith Boyd and well done Audible.
2 people found this helpful
-
Overall
- Hortenzia
- 16-04-11
Biography
This is not fiction, but pure biography and history, drawing probable conclusions based on known facts and existing documents. Therefore, full of dates and names as it is, it's not really adequate for listening, but rather for reading on paper. I did like it, however, and I indend to read more of the kind, but I'm going to choose the timing carefully, making sure that the circumstances are propitious and that I'm ready to give it the level of attention required.
3 people found this helpful
-
Overall
- Carole
- 25-12-09
A waste of a credit...
This is not a novel, but an audible list of historical opinions/facts/records researched by the author. Consequently not of interest to me; lacking flow and continuity. A waste of a credit in my opinion.
4 people found this helpful
-
Overall
- Forester
- 16-05-10
Rich and satisfying
Not your average silly historical romp, but a serious work of scholarship, packed with facts and well supported argument. Not as gripping as her earlier 'Isabella', but a thorough study of the life of an influential woman in the reign of Richard II.
2 people found this helpful
-
Overall

- Kindle Customer
- 14-08-08
Enthralling
I cannot imagine how someone could find the story of Katherine Swynford and John of Gaunt boring. While Weir's book does not have the intimacy of Katherine, by Anya Seton, it is more accurate historically. There have, after all, been another 50 years of scholarship. I found this book as compelling as I did Katherine many years ago. I listened every chance I got.
This book is for those people with an interest in history, who find in various points of view as absorbing a story as a romance.
7 people found this helpful
-
Overall

- M. I. Wolfson
- 10-08-08
Too long
Although the first few hours of the book were extremely interesting giving an excellent idea of life in the 14th century Europe. I found that it tended to ramble on after a bit with just a report of the movements of John og Gaunt and Katherine without much additional colour. I abandoned it about 3/4 way through. I do feel that it gave a good insight into the life and poetry Geoffrey Chaucer, I knew very little about him and only knew some of the Cantebury Tales.
4 people found this helpful
-
Overall

- Mary
- 15-08-08
Good non-fiction book
I've read several of Allison Weir's non-fiction biographies, and they're all meticulously researched, very detailed, and well written. This is no exception. It's a much a biography of John of Gaunt as of Katherine Swynford, probably because there is more detail about his life, and most of the information available on Katherine is through John. If you're interested in this period of English history, you'll probably find the detail interesting, but there was a lot more detail about the architecture than I wanted.
If you're looking for something along the lines of Anya Seton's novel, you'll be disappointed, as it is a detailed account of Katherine's life, but is presented as "just the facts." I found Weir's note about Seton and her novel that is at the end of the book quite interesting. The narrator was just right.
6 people found this helpful
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story

- Neil Chisholm
- 17-09-12
What an extraordinary life
Alison Weir does it again - takes a woman with an extraordinary personality and at odds with her time in history and sets the record straight.
Katherine Swynford was no scandalous duchess but a paramour of longstanding of John of Gaunt. Her long suffering was eventually rewarded by John marrying her but their wedded bliss lasted only a few years until John died in 1399. It did however lead to their children being legalised and no longer being viewed as bastards. Their descendants can be traced to many european royal houses, and directly to the Tudor dynasty in England.
The one thing that continued to annoy throughout the book was the regular questioning of the listener as to whether or not they believed that Katherine undertook a particular action. The question was always prefaced by what usually happened in such a situation in the fourteenth century and the historical likelihood of it happening but with such scant real knowledge of Katherine's life and actions much of the action was conjecture. With Alison's deep research into the subject of her books I would rather have had less questioning and more "it was likely", we are after all talking about a time in history where very little personal history was recorded other than births, deaths, purchases and leases.
For all that, it was a very illuminating book - the history of that time fascinates me and learning more about Edward III's children and in particular John of Gaunt was particularly interesting - a shadowy brutish character in history but probably in reality a much more normal person with a lusty appetite and an enduring love for one woman for over 25 years. The fact that he married Katherine eventually does indeed show love conquers all!
A highly recommended book for those interested in the run up to the Wars of the Roses, the time of Chaucer and the high middle ages.
1 person found this helpful
-
Overall

- RuthAnn
- 29-07-08
Boring with a capital B
If I could give this a zero I would... simply dreadful
4 people found this helpful
-
Overall

- Janice
- 17-03-10
Not worth my Credit
The first part of the book was just a history lesson that never ended. I loved her Elizabeth and Innocent Traitor books and was so disapointed to have wasted my time and my credit on this book.
1 person found this helpful
-
Overall

- susan nenadic
- 26-08-08
A Disappointment
I have read all of Weir's biographies as well as her novels. Her last novel, Lady Elizabeth, was a disappointment and so is this. She could find nothing about Swynford so it is filled with conjucture and facts about everyone except Kathryn. Not only is the content dull, the narration is poor. She is trying so hard to make nothing sound like something that it becomes annoying.
1 person found this helpful
-
Overall

- Anne
- 02-01-09
Not worth the time
I have become more and more disappointed in Ms Weir's books over the last few years. Her biographies are NOT objective (she likes her subjects too much, I fear) and her novels have less plot than real life. Her biographies are at least better written.
1 person found this helpful
-
Overall

- Fairsari
- 05-04-09
A boring read
This book is just a series of historical dates with absolutely no fiction. While it may be factual it makes for boring reading.
-
Overall

- The Louligan
- 12-10-08
BORING...MORE "ROYAL BABY MAMA DRAMA"
I'm a big fan of Alison Weir's work and purchased this book on faith. It is a disappointment on all levels. Audible.com calls this "one of the greatest and most remarkable love stories of medieval England. Katherine Swynford, who became first the mistress, and later the wife, of John of Gaunt, Duke of Lancaster. But Katherine Swynford was much more than that. She was the mother of the Beauforts, and through them the ancestress of the Yorkist Kings, the Tudors, the Stuarts and every other sovereign since - a prodigious legacy which has shaped the history of Britain." By being the "Number 1 Baby Mama"? Weir tried hard to make something interesting out of a very boring subject. Where is the LOVE? Weir had to make a story out of conjecture and suppositions. Everything is "Katherine MIGHT have attended" or "Katherine LIKELY wore an outfit of...." We never learned anything about the woman herself. Was she beautiful? Sexy? How did she feel about her "baby daddy" using her years? Weir tries to give us the impression that Katherine was smart but who hangs around for DECADES for a man to marry her and then only after his wife dies and he is close to death?! She was in her late 40's before she finally became a Duchess through marriage. Her legacy of "shaping the history of Britain" resulted in Prince Charles doing the same thing to Camilla Parker-Bowles. What a bunch of low self-esteem people! Must be the inbreeding.
1 person found this helpful