Philippa Gregory

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Philippa Gregory (born 9 January 1954) is an English historical novelist who has been publishing since 1987.

The Other Boleyn Girl (2001), one of the Romantic Novel of the Year Award from the Romantic Novelists' Association, has been turned into two separate films, making her the most well-known of her work. Gregory "the queen of British historical fiction" has been dubbed by AudioFile magazine.

Early life and education

Philippa Gregory was born in Nairobi on 9 January 1954, the second daughter of Elaine (Wedd) and Arthur Percy Gregory, a radio operator and navigator for East African Airways, when Nairobi was still capital city of Kenya (modern-day Republic of Kenya). Her family migrated to Bristol, England, when she was two years old.

She was a "rebel" at Colston's Girls' School, where she received a B grade in English and two E grades in History and Geography at A-level. She then went to journalism college in Cardiff and spent a year as an apprentice with the Portsmouth News before deciding to enroll in an English literature degree at the University of Sussex, where she switched to a history course. She obtained a B.A. in 1982. From Sussex University, there is a degree in history. She worked for BBC radio for two years before deciding on University of Edinburgh, where she obtained a Ph.D. degree in 18th-century commercial circulating libraries in 1985. Gregory has taught at the University of Durham, University of Teesside, and the Open University, and was named a Fellow of Kingston University in 1994.

Personal life

While finishing her doctorate and lived in a cottage on the Pennine Way with her first husband Peter Chislett, editor of the Hartlepool Mail, and their baby girl, Victoria, wrote her first book Wideacre. Before the book was published, they divorced.

Following Wideacre's success and the publication of The Favoured Child, she moved south to near Midhurst, West Sussex, where the Wideacre trilogy was set. Gregory married Paul Carter, her second husband, with whom she has a son named Adam. For the second time, she divorced for the second time.

She met and married Anthony Mason, who she first encountered during her second marriage, after the break-up of her second marriage.

Gregory is married with her husband, children, and stepchildren (six in all). Riding, walking, skiing, and gardening are among her hobbies.

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Career

She has written novels set in a number of historical periods, but primarily the Tudor period and the 16th century. The Favoured Child and Meridon, a collection of novels set in the 17th century inspired her to write the best-selling Lacey trilogy Wideacre, which is a tale about land and incest, The Favoured Child and Meridon. The Wise Woman was next in line. Gregory's book A Respectable Trade, a book about the slave trade in England set in 18th-century Bristol, was turned into a four-part drama series for BBC television. Gregory's script was nominated for a BAFTA, received an award from the Committee for Racial Equality, and the film was seen around the world.

During the English Civil War, two books about a gardening family were set; Earthly Joys and Virgin Earth, though she has written contemporary fiction, Mrs Hartley and the Growth Center, The Little House, and Zelda's Cut. She has also written about children.

Some of her books have won prizes and have been turned into television dramas. Natascha McElhone, Jodhi May, and Jared Harris' Most Popular of her novels have been The Other Boleyn Girl, which was released in 2001 and adapted for BBC television in 2003. The Other Boleyn Girl also received the Romantic Novel of the Year in the year of its publication, and it has since released sequels titled The Queen's Fool, The Virgin's Lover, The Constant Princess, The Boleyn Inheritance, and The Other Queen. In February 2008, Miramax acquired the film rights to The Other Boleyn Girl and produced a film of the same name.

In addition, Gregory has written a collection of books on the Plantagenets, the governing houses that predate the Tudors, and the Wars of the Roses. Elizabeth Woodville, Edward IV's wife, is the subject of her first book, The White Queen, which was published in 2009. Margaret Beaufort, Henry VII and grandmother to Henry VIII, is the subject of the Red Queen, which was released in 2010. The Lady of the Rivers (2011) is the life of Jacquetta of Luxembourg, mother of Elizabeth Woodville. Anne Neville, Richard III's wife, is the subject of the Kingmaker's Daughter, which was published in 2012, and The White Princess (2013) focuses on Elizabeth of York, the wife of Henry VII and the mother of Henry VIII. The Last Tudor, a 2017 book, is the most recent by an author. The White Queen is a television series based in the United States. It's been a 10-part series The White Queen, The Red Queen, and The Kingmaker's Daughter (2012).

"Gregory has made an excellent career out of a life of a passionate, independent life into the historical noblewomen whose personalities had previously resided in a lain flat, remembranced only as diplomatic currency and brood mares," Helen Brown of The Telegraph wrote in 2013. "Gregory's historical fiction has always been speculative (those encouraged to sneer should note that she never claimed otherwise) and comes with slews of romantic license," she said.

In 2011, she contributed "Why Holly Berries Are As Red as Roses" to an anthology assisting the Woodland Trust. Why Willows Weep has so far helped The Woodland Trust plant grow nearly 50,000 trees.

In the 2021 Birthday Honours for services to literature and to charities in the United Kingdom and Gambia, Gregory was named Commander of the Order of the British Empire (CBE).

Gregory has said that her "commitment to historical accuracy" is a pillar of her writing. Historians disagree on this. "We should definitely avoid treating historical novelists seriously as historians," historian David Starkey said in a film about Anne Boleyn, "good Mills and Boon." The suggestion that they have a power is "ludicrous." Susan Bordo condemned Gregory's historical accuracy as "self-deceptive and self-promote chutzpah," and she points out that "Gregory's insistence on her adherence to history as well as the numerous inaccuracies in her work that has enraged the scholars.

Anne Boleyn's portrayal of Henry VIII's second wife Anne Boleyn drew criticism in her book The Other Boleyn Girl. Anne is depicted as cold and ruthless, as well as heavily implying that the allegations of adultery and incest with her brother were unsubstantial, despite it being widely believed that she was not guilty of the charges. Robin Maxwell, a novelist, declined to write a blurb for this book on principle, describing Anne's characterization as "vicious, unsupportable" in the book.

She is a regular contributor to magazines and newspapers, with short stories, articles, and reviews. She is also a frequent broadcaster and a regular contestant on BBC Radio 4's Round Britain Quiz, as well as Channel 4's Time Team's Tudor expert. Elizabeth Woodville was her special subject on the 29th December 2008 edition of Celebrity Mastermind on BBC1, where she chose Elizabeth Woodville as her special interest.

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