THE KING'S DAMSEL - Kate Emerson
Gallery Books
ISBN: 978-1-4516-6149-1
August 2012
Historical Fiction

England; 1525 - 1535

An heiress to her father's large fortune and estates, including her current residence, Hartlake Manor, Thomasine Lodge's fate now lies in the hands of her new guardian, Sir Lionel Daggett.  Thomasine, affectionately called Tamsin, and her stepmother, Blanche, receive a letter from Sir Lionel stating that he's traveling to the Manor to "take up his duties" as Tamsin's guardian.  Since her father's death, her brother had been very lenient in marrying her off, allowing her to take the time she needed.  But now Stephen is dead, as well, from a hunting accident.  Tamsin and Blanche await Sir Lionel's arrival nervously, unsure what will happen to them next.

The Lodge women and Sir Lionel's first meeting is not a pleasant one, but Tamsin is relieved to find out that she will serve as a maid of honor to Princess Mary Tudor.  With Mary returned to King Henry's VIII's good favor and her royal title restored, the princess requires loyal ladies for her new court; Tamsin will do just nicely.  Tamsin may be a little naïve, but she knows that there's an ulterior motive for Sir Lionel's machinations in having her placed there.  She just isn't sure what it will serve him, but she looks forward to serving Princess Mary.

At court, Tamsin begins her new life with the other maids of honor.  It's not all glittery like the fairy tale she'd hoped for, but she quickly finds Mary to be quiet and solemn, with a candid quality that pleases Tamsin.  Her popularity grows when she begins to entertain the court with stories, both ghost and romantic, from her childhood.

Having proven her loyalty and love to the princess, Tamsin is able to attend to Mary during many of her visits with her royal parents, Henry and Catherine of Aragon. It is during one of those visits that Tamsin meets King Henry, but it's only a passing moment.  It would be a while before she would see the king again, and that day arrives when she's passed from Mary's court to Anne Boleyn's, Henry's latest mistress and hopeful wife.  With rumors of Henry wishing for a divorce from Catherine, Mary's uncertainty about her own future grows.  She does not trust Anne and needs an ear in the concubine's court when she finally becomes Henry's wife and queen.  And so begins Tamsin's real tale, where she becomes not just a spy for her beloved princess, but also THE KING'S DAMSEL.

It is a well-known fact that ol' King Henry was a lusty guy, and historians have gleefully researched many of his mistresses.  It is rumored that, as enamored as he was of Anne Boleyn, it didn't stop his cheatin' ways.  Based on various letters written about a certain mistress of Henry's, particularly during his marriage to Anne Boleyn, THE KING'S DAMSEL is both fictitious (and delightfully so) and born from fact.  One of these letters even denoted the mistress in question as a friend loyal to the Princess Mary, and so you understand Kate Emerson's line of thinking when she wrote this delightful book.

With a cast list of big names during those days (King Henry VIII, of course; Queens Catherine of Aragon and Anne Boleyn; Margaret Pole, the Countess of Salisbury and lady mistress in Princess Mary's household; Princess Mary Tudor, daughter of Henry VIII and Catherine of Aragon; and the list goes on…), THE KING'S DAMSEL is a culmination of Tamsin's life and adventures at court and a Tudor spy novel. It hit all the right bells and whistles for this self-described "Tudorphile."

I love it when an historical author takes an unassuming piece of historical research and spins an entire novel out of it, and does it well.  That's just what you get with Kate Emerson's THE KING'S DAMSEL.

Amy Cunningham