Tudor Rose

6/19/2022

Nova Pilbeam draws the short straw in this interesting, if not exactly enthralling, depiction of the power-struggles that followed the death of Henry VIII in England. Edward VI (a rather lively performance from the 17 year old Desmond Tester) is not the healthiest of young men, and those in his council - initially led by Edward Seymour (Felix Aylmer) then by the Earl of Warwick (Sir Cedric Hardwicke) try to manipulate the succession. The latter prevails and upon the untimely death of the young king, he places the Lady Jane Grey - whom Henry VIII directed be 4th in the line of his own succession (she was his great niece) - ahead of the Princesses Mary and Elizabeth and so she is now, reluctantly, the Queen. To cement her precarious position she is quickly married off to a rather jolly, put