Six Tudor Queens
by
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(The ghost of Henry VIII is surrounded by his six queens starting with Katharine of Aragon on his right and finishing with Katherine Parr on his left. Each lady wears the mask to identify her identity and a paper crown. The king also wears a paper crown, and uses a hand dual sided mask that he reverts around to show himself in his younger days whenever his first three wives speak, and as old and fat when his last three wives speak.)
Q. 5 – I cannot believe that we finally are getting together after all this time!
Q. 1 – We do not know how this is happening. We heartily object.
Q. 4 – Got in Himmel! Loosen up! What happened, happened! It is long past.
Q. 2 – Easy for you to say. You did not lose your head over him.
Q. 4 – Of course not. He was so fat and disgusting when I met him that I counted my blessings because he did not like me. It was mutual repulsion at first sight.
Q. 5 – I felt the same way myself, but I was so young, and fascinated by the idea of being queen!
Q. 2 – We all were that. We never thought we would pay with our lives for it.
Q. 1 – None of you know anything whatsoever about being a queen. I was born to be one, and I was the only true queen of Henry the Eighth of England.
Q. 6 – You are so full of yourself. You did not have to put up with him in his old age with that awful, stinking leg.
Q. 1 – You are absolutely right. When I first met Henry, he was but ten years old. He served as proxy for his brother Arthur, and stood for him at our wedding in Plymouth. He loved me then, and he loved me eight years later when he pledged himself to me. Remember, this was his own decision of his own free will; his father with his eternal subterfuges had died; Henry became king, and he chose me before all others.
Q. 2 – Nonsense. Only because he was an inexperienced kid and was infatuated with the memory of you. By the time he saw you after all those years, he was disappointed because you were so short – not petite – but he didn’t know how to back out!
Q. 1 – Henry was so handsome and strong – everything that Arthur was not. It is true that I was wiser and five years his senior. I also knew God and the true religion. Our misfortune was the many miscarriages; if only Henry, our beautiful, lusty baby had flourished…
Q. 2 – Even then the king was plucking juicier fruit. Remember Bessie Blount and the second and HEALTHIER Henry? And even my sister Mary?
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About the Book
Six Tudor Queens is a tongue in cheek play of an imaginary meeting, in our times, of the wives of Henry VIII. Their conversation is modern and reflects each of the queens' unique experiences with this complex giant in our history. This short skit makes an ideal closure activity for a Social Sciences unit on the Tudors. It will allow teachers to expand and bring alive an era that was so full of turmoil and drama, depicting the passionate struggles for power and possessions, that led to religious schism, and one of the greatest female rulers of all time: Elizabeth I, unwelcomed daughter of conniving and ill-fated Anne Boleyn. In addition, a short summary of all monarchs of the Tudor dynasty highlight the main aspects of their lives and reigns.
Existing portraits of the characters, mostly based on Holbein painings, are reproduced and help personalize each one: Henry, as the young, virile King, and his first three loves - Katharine of Aragon, Anne Boleyn, and Jane Seymour; then Henry in his later years, heavyset and aged, but still arrogant and just as royal as ever, and his last three wives - Anne of Cleves, Catherine Howard, and Katherine Parr. Teachers and parents alike can enjoy having their children enact and re-live this fascinating historical perspective of our heritage.
About the Author
Dr. Maria H. Koonce is an educator in the areas of Foreign Languages, Language Arts, and English for Speakers of Other Languages (ESOL). She is particularly fascinated by history, and has taken every opportunity to bring to her students an appreciation of their humanity through the past. This play was created as a culminating activity for a series of lectures for retired professionals, which included the theme: ' Loves and Lives of the English Monarchs.' You may contact her at: billmar@cfl.rr.com