The Last Tudor

The final novel in the spellbinding Tudor novels series from Sunday Times bestselling author, Philippa Gregory

The Last Tudor explores the dramatic story of Jane Grey, who was Queen of England for nine days. As her father and his conspirators utilised her position as cousin to the deceased king, they placed her on the throne ahead of the king’s half-sister Mary. Mary, however, quickly mustered an army, claimed her crown, and imprisoned Jane in the Tower. When Jane refused to betray her Protestant faith, Mary sent her to the executioner’s block. Jane turned her father’s greedy, failed grab for power into her own brave and tragic martyrdom.

‘Learn you to die’ is the advice that Jane gives in a letter to her younger sister, Katherine, who has no intention of dying. Katherine intends to enjoy her beauty and youth and find love. However, her lineage makes her a threat to the insecure and infertile Queen Mary and, after Mary’s death, to her sister Queen Elizabeth. Elizabeth will never allow Katherine to marry and produce a potential royal heir before she does. When Katherine’s secret marriage is revealed by her pregnancy, she too must be sent to the Tower.

‘Farewell, my sister,’ writes Katherine to the youngest Grey sister, Mary. A beautiful dwarf disregarded by the court, Mary finds it easy to keep secrets, especially her own, while avoiding Elizabeth’s suspicious glare. After observing her sisters defy the queen, Mary remains aware of her own perilous position as a possible heir to the throne. Yet, she is determined to command her own destiny and be the last Tudor to risk her life in matching wits with her ruthless and unforgiving cousin Elizabeth.

Praise for Philippa Gregory:

‘Meticulously researched and deeply entertaining, this story of betrayal and divided loyalties is Gregory on top form’ Good Housekeeping

‘Gregory has popularised Tudor history perhaps more than any other living fiction writer…all of her books feature strong, complex women, doing their best to improve their lives in worlds dominated by men’ Sunday Times

‘Engrossing’ Sunday Express

‘Popular historical fiction at its finest, immaculately researched and superbly told’ The Times