The Waiting Game: The Untold Story of the Women Who Served the Tudor Queens: A History

“The Countess of Worcester was in a tight spot. Her brother had pulled her into a secluded corner and demanded to know the truth of rumors he had heard: had she been showing undue favor to men who were not her husband? Had she—God forbid—committed adultery? Was a baby in her womb the fruit of another man's seed? Had she no care to her own and her family's honor? Perhaps she winced. Perhaps she protested and tried to turn his questions period what she did not do, apparently, was deny the accusations outright.”

In the history books, historical novels, and lush period movies and TV series, we see the queen’s ladies-in-waiting dressed in sumptuous clothing drifting about in the background, extras in the drama of the Tudor queens. Often their identities are mysteries and that, according to Nicola Clark, author of The Waiting Game, is reflected in a reality where even determining the names of the ladies who served the queens of the much-married Henry VIII are difficult to determine.

History at the time was written by men and women’s roles and even their names were not deemed important. Indeed, according to Clark, who has a PhD in early modern history and is a senior lecturer in early modern history at the University of Chichester, up until the Married Women’s Property Act of 1870, married women didn’t exist in the eyes of the law. They had no rights and were considered chattel, owned by their husbands. It was even worse, three hundred years earlier.

Clark, who Lives in England, focuses primarily on women's dynastic and political roles across the late medieval and early modern period and so brings these women who played major roles in Tudor history out from the darkness of overlooked history and into the light.

Becoming a lady-in-waiting was an exalted position and one that many women of noble birth vied for. Some ladies-in-waiting became mistresses to the king, some lost their head because of knowing too much or seemingly to countenance a queen’s adultery, some actually landed excellent husbands and went on to live relatively normal lives.

We follow the women as they serve their queens, staring with Catherine of Aragon who, unable to produce a male heir, is cast aside in favor of Anne Boleyn who gave birth to a baby girl who would become one of the most famed queens England has ever known. But that didn’t matter to Henry, he wanted a boy. Anne was beheaded to make way for Jane and so it would go as Henry went through wife after wife, divorcing some and imposing death sentences on others. Fortunately for his sixth wife, he died before he could cast her aside or even, worse behead her as he had done with two others.

Like the queens, the fortunes of the ladies who served differed greatly. Maria de Salinas, who came from Spain with Catherine of Aragon, married and became Lady Willoughby, and her daughter Katherine Willoughby was the high ranking Duchess of Suffolk. Scheming Jane Parker, Viscountess Rochford, who was married to Anne’s brother, didn’t fare as well. She served Catherine of Aragon as well as the next four queens but was beheaded for aiding Katherine Howard, wife number five, in her adulterous affairs.

Bringing the stories of the ladies and how they interacted with the queens, what they wore, what they ate, and the alliances they made, gives us another look at the times of Henry VIII. By discovering the lives of the ladies-in-waiting, Clark is connecting us to a long lost piece of history.