At first, I wasn't too interested in reading 'The Irish Princess' but once I found out that it was tied to the Tudors then I decided to read it for the Tudor book challenge.
Karen Harper tells the story of Elizabeth 'Gera' Fitzgerald, the uncrowned Irish princess whose tragic past connects her life to the Tudors. Her family (the Geraldines) were actually the uncrowned royal family of Ireland because of their wealth and power. It also turned out that Gera was also half English due to her mother Elizabeth Grey. I didn't realize who she was at first but Gera's mother is actually a granddaughter of Elizabeth Woodville.
Gera's family pays respect to King Henry VIII so her father, the 9th Earl of Kildare usually travels to England to give reports of what was going on in Ireland. As the story unfolds, her father would become imprisoned in the Tower on charges that he overstepped his bounds. Gera's half brother, Silken Thomas (you would have to read the book to see how he got his name), would become the 10th Earl of Kildare and decides to enrage the King of England. Well, you know that's a bad thing. Gera's mother on the other hand travels to England with two of her children to try to plead with her royal cousin to release her beloved husband.
As you can imagine, things do not go well for the Geraldines. Eventually, Gera's English uncle Leonard Grey comes to make peace with Gera's five uncles but in reality, he came to Ireland to arrest them and Silken Thomas for treason. Gera would go with them to be with her mother. Thankfully, her brother Gerald has escaped and in hiding.
On her trip to England, this would be the first time she met Edward Clinton, the future Lord High Admiral of Elizabeth I. Not exactly love at first sight.
Gera is finally reunited with her mother and other siblings but it's really bittersweet. The Fitzgerald men are tried for treason and go to a traitor's death at Tyburn. This gives Gera the more reason to hate the Tudor king. She vows to get her revenge on the Tudor king and bring her family back to power in Ireland, which fuels her throughout the book.
Gera's story continues when she's in the household of Mary Tudor. Even though she hated the Tudor king, she could not bring herself to hate his daughter. Actually, she could not bring herself to hate either daughter but instead try to make them both pro-Irish. From the very start, Gera has a special bond with Elizabeth Tudor. There are times that she encounters Edward Clinton and each time, she has to keep her feelings in check but also warns her to not act too rash. After all, her two people on her hit list are of course King Henry VIII and John Dudley.
Gera marries her first husband, Anthony Browne, who actually was very close to the king. This would give Gera the chance to kill the ailing king and bring justice to her family. On King Henry VIII's deathbed, she was close to killing him but instead scared Henry VIII that he was not going to heaven. Henry VIII was already delusional, thinking that Gera was poor dead Queen Jane so why not make him more worried about his soul.
The rest of Gera's story goes by rather quickly during the reigns of Edward VI and Mary I. Both Gera and Edward become widows, though not at the same time. Still, during King Edward VI reign, Gera was able to have her brother Gerald, 11th Earl of Kildare come to England. Gera was still very close to her stepdaughter Mabel Browne and Mabel would eventually become Gerald's wife towards the end of the book.
As you can imagine, Gera and Edward finally become married after longing for each other from afar. Things don't get well for the kingdom when Gera finds out that John Dudley sends his son Robert to capture Mary and that Edward VI dies. In order to save Mary I from Dudley's hands, she goes to warn the new queen. The rest of what happened when Mary does claim her throne goes by yet Gera still admires Lady Elizabeth.
An interesting story of Gera that Karen Harper includes was when Gera took a ship to capture Martin Frobisher, who was a thorn at Elizabeth I's side. Of course some of that cargo was going to help Gerald and Ireland.
I admit that when I was reading this book, I wasn't fully captured. Even though the Tudor story was told in someone's eyes, maybe it's just the way the story was going. Oh there were parts that I wanted to know what happened next but it didn't make me want to not stop reading. Still, Elizabeth 'Gera' Fitzgerald was a new person that I didn't know about that was actually an influential person in Queen Elizabeth I's court and whose life was impacted by King Henry VIII.
