Guest Post

Tony Riches on the conclusion of the Elizabethan series

May 04, 2025

With it being HistFic May, we are delighted to welcome Tony Riches back to The Tudor Notebook to tell us about his latest release, Bess, Tudor Gentlewoman.

Can you tell us a little about your latest book?

Bess Throckmorton is unusual to be chosen as the queen’s gentlewoman – in spite of her family background rather than because of it. Her cousin, Francis Throckmorton was executed for leading the ‘Throckmorton Plot’, a Catholic conspiracy to overthrow Queen Elizabeth in 1583. Bess made up for her lack of education by her empathy for others, but saw how the price of royal service could be to remain unmarried.

When she catches the roving eye of adventurer Sir Walter Raleigh, Bess has to choose between loyalty and love, duty and desire. Can she risk her queen’s anger by marrying without permission?

This book is the last in a series, can you tell us about the series, what influenced you to begin the series?

After the success of my Tudor Trilogy I decided to continue to tell the entire story of the Tudors, from Owen Tudor’s first meeting with Queen Catherine of Valois to the last days of Queen Elizabeth and the end of the dynasty. Rather than write one book about the complex queen, I decided to show her through the eyes of three of her favourite men. Sir Francis Drake worshipped her as ‘Gloriana’, the Earl of Essex was like the son she never had, and Sir Walter Raleigh was the Captain of her Guard.

While researching these I became intrigued by three Elizabethan women who witness and influence many of the great events of the era, yet I knew little about. I decided to make the Elizabethan trilogy into a series of six books, and chose Baroness Penelope Rich, elder sister of the Earl of Essex, his wife, Countess Frances, and Lady Bess Raleigh. Each had a very different relationship with the queen, and I liked the ways their lives intersected as their circumstances changed.

Is there anything particularly surprising you found about Bess when researching?

Like most Elizabethan women, her education was limited to what she might need to run a household. I was impressed at how her phonetic spelling didn’t stop Bess writing to the most powerful men at court, such as Sir Robert Cecil. I was also surprised to learn she knew most of the men involved in the ‘Gunpowder Plot’. Most surprising of all was her loyalty to her husband, despite his many flaws.

How would you hope people thought of Bess after reading this?

Everything in the book is based on extensive research, and goes beyond most biographies of Bess, so I would like to think this book adds to the non-fiction narratives to help readers appreciate what it must have felt like for Bess to live through such challenging times.

If you could describe Bess in 3 words, what would they be?

Bess was Resilient, resourceful and a survivor.

You now have quite a few books based on the Tudors, do you have a personal favourite that you enjoyed researching?

There are twelve books in total, and each brought new surprises. I like visiting the actual locations in the books, and it was amazing to climb the stairs in Walter Raleigh’s cell at the Tower of London exactly as he and Bess would have done so many times. If I had to choose a favourite it would be following in the footsteps of Jasper and Henry Tudor to exile from Pembroke Castle to in the Forteresse de Largoët in remote Brittany and back to Bosworth Field (see https://tonyriches.blogspot.com/2016/07/the-tudors-road-to-bosworth-part-1.html)

*Inside Walter Raleigh’s cell at the Tower of London*

As you have reached the end of your Elizabethan series, what is next for you?

My last two books extend a little past the end of the Tudors into the rise of the Stuart dynasty, and I am now researching a new Stuart Trilogy, starting with a little known (and I think underestimated) queen consort, Anna of Denmark.

I would like to take this opportunity to thank Amy and all the readers from Australia to Alaska who’ve made writing my Tudor books such a worthwhile experience.

Tony Riches

Pembrokeshire, Wales.

Author bio

Tony Riches is a full-time UK author of best-selling Tudor historical fiction. He lives in Pembrokeshire, West Wales and is a specialist in the history of the Wars of the Roses and the lives of the Tudors. For more information about Tony’s books please visit his website tonyriches.com and his blog, The Writing Desk and find him on Facebook, Twitter @tonyriches and Bluesky: https://bsky.app/profile/tonyriches.bsky.social. You can find out more about his research on his popular podcast series, ‘Stories of the Tudors’

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