This HaBO comes from Michelle, who is looking for this historical romance:
I am looking for a romance novel that I want to say I read in the ’90’s or early 2000’s.
The only thing I remember about it was that there was a side character, a best friend of the main female character, who I believe is based on the real Elizabeth Woodville.
In the novel, this character is carrying on a secret affair with the King, or possibly future king Edward Plantagenet, and becomes pregnant with his child. Of course the main character is very concerned for her friend, but in the end Edward marries her-I think in a secret ceremony? Both the main female character and her friend serve as ladies-in-waiting, or at least are somehow a part of the English court.
Does anyone have any idea about this?
Ring any bells?
Two books jumped into my mind, both by Rosemary Hawley Jarman: WE SPEAK NO TREASON, about a novice nun who has an affair (and, I believe, a child) with Richard III (before he became king). Elizabeth Woodville is a minor character in that book. The other book is THE KING’S GRAY MARE, where Elizabeth Woodville is the main character. It follows her journey from widow to queen (wife of Edward IV) to widow once more. However, both of these books were published in the 1970s, so they may not be what you’re looking for.
https://www.amazon.com/We-Speak-No-Treason-Flowering-ebook/dp/B01LBOFUTE/ref=mp_s_a_1_4?dchild=1&keywords=rosemary+hawley+jarman&qid=1598367322&sprefix=risemary+hawley+&sr=8-4
https://www.amazon.com/Kings-Grey-Rosemary-Hawley-Jarman-ebook/dp/B01M1CLC33/ref=mp_s_a_1_3?dchild=1&keywords=rosemary+hawley+jarman&qid=1598367322&sprefix=risemary+hawley+&sr=8-3
Sounds Philippa Gregory-ish to me. She did a Plantagenet series.
I don’t know it, but I want to!
I think this sounds like a Virginia Henley – The Falcon and the Flower
Missy, The Falcon and the Flower does have a lady-in-waiting friend, but the friend is a Maid Marion expy who is fleeing the lecherous urges of Prince John. That book had SO MUCH crazysauce that I remember it vividly. As in, it’s permanently scarred into my brain, lol.
@ the Other Kate – Ok I remember that one though obviously I did not remember the name but I think there was another Virginia Henley where the heroine’s best friend fell in love with Prince Edward and the hero is half-Arab – his father was a Knight in the Crusades and his mother was some kind of nobility and that one the heroine’s best friend is this tiny blonde and I remember her her using lemon juice to lighten her hair. But I cannot remember what it was called. I think the heroine’s name was something like Brianna or Rhiannon.
@Missy Is this this one, maybe? https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/692097.Notorious
@The Other Kate. No, it’s Desired by Virginia Henley from Amazon: Mesmerized by the dark knight’s turquoise gaze, Lady Brianna of Bedford tried to turn away. After all, she was betrothed to Robert de Beauchamp. And now this total stranger, Christian Hawksblood, de Beauchamp’s bastard brother, claimed her with a soul-searing look. What was his mystical power that compelled her to abandon herself to this man she dare not even trust…
Christian Hawksblood, Prince and Knight Templar, burned with memories of the beauty he first saw in a vision, clad only in a nimbus of red-gold hair. Brianna of Bedford was his, ordained by fate. But first he had to deal with his jealous brother. And then with Brianna, the innocent temptress who branded him with passion even as she compelled him to listen with his heart