logo
episode-header-image
Mar 2024
46m 35s

Tudor Ladies-in-Waiting

History Hit
About this episode

For every Tudor Queen, their ladies-in-waiting were their confidantes, chaperones and intimate witnesses to their lives. These women were high born, even if they performed menial tasks, and many of them were educated. As King Henry VIII changed wives - and the very fabric of the country's structure - these women had to make choices about loyalty that simply didn't exist before.


In this episode of Not Just the Tudors, Professor Suzannah Lipscomb welcomes Dr. Nicola Clark, whose new book The Waiting Game, tells the untold story of the women who served the Tudor Queens.


This episode was edited by Ella Blaxill and produced by Rob Weinberg.


Enjoy unlimited access to award-winning original documentaries that are released weekly and AD-FREE podcasts. Get a subscription for £1 per month for 3 months with code TUDORS - sign up here.


You can take part in our listener survey here.

Up next
Today
Tudor True Crime: Murder in the Stuart Court
The public fascination with true crime is nothing new. Four centuries ago, the sensational story of the death in the Tower of London of Thomas Overbury, a lawyer in the court of King James I, led to a scandal that rocked the monarchy to its core. In this third episode of Not Just ... Show More
45m 31s
Aug 21
Tudor True Crime: Murder of Amy Dudley
**WARNING: This episode contains descriptions of suicide**On 6 September 1560, Amy Robsart Dudley died after falling down a staircase at Cumnor Place in Oxfordshire. But did she fall? Was she pushed? Or did she throw herself down the stairs? These questions exercised Tudor courti ... Show More
40m 32s
Aug 18
Tudor True Crime: Murder of Christopher Marlowe
Who stabbed the famed playwright? And who planned it? We're stepping out of the sun and into the shadows on Not Just the Tudors, as Professor Suzannah Lipscomb investigates Tudor True Crime; a selection of history’s most notorious murders and murderers.Today Suzannah is joined by ... Show More
50m 42s
Recommended Episodes
Mar 2024
Scandalous Sex Lives of Royalty
We've been fascinated by royalty for hundreds of years, but what do we know about their sex lives? Quite a lot, it turns out. Today we're revisiting an episode Kate recorded with bestselling author Eleanor Herman to find out about what it took to not just be a mistress of a royal ... Show More
42m 55s
Sep 2022
4 Tudor Queens: 1. Jane Grey, The 9 Days Queen
The Tudor era is all about the women. Once you get past Henry VIII and his six wives, three successive Queens got a chance to warm the throne of England. But being a Queen in a man’s world wasn’t easy. Unfortunately these reigning women were pitched against each other in deadly s ... Show More
30m 57s
Oct 2022
4 Tudor Queens: 3. Queen Elizabeth I
The Tudor era is all about the women. Once you get past Henry VIII and his six wives, three successive Queens got a chance to warm the throne of England. But being a Queen in a man’s world wasn’t easy. Unfortunately these reigning women were pitched against each other in deadly s ... Show More
33m 42s
Jun 2024
Tudor Lesbians
Throughout history, it's mostly been queer men who were persecuted under the historical sodomy laws, but the Tudor period saw a spike in women being tried under it. Why was this? And why was it mostly happening in what is modern day Belgium and Netherlands? Joining Kate today is ... Show More
45m 43s
Oct 2022
4 Tudor Queens: 2. Queen Mary I
The Tudor era is all about the women. Once you get past Henry VIII and his six wives, three successive Queens got a chance to warm the throne of England. But being a Queen in a man’s world wasn’t easy. Unfortunately these reigning women were pitched against each other in deadly s ... Show More
33m 34s
Oct 2022
4 Tudor Queens: 4. Mary, Queen of Scots
The Tudor era is all about the women. Once you get past Henry VIII and his six wives, three successive Queens got a chance to warm the throne of England. But being a Queen in a man’s world wasn’t easy. Unfortunately these reigning women were pitched against each other in deadly s ... Show More
34m 50s
Jun 2024
Sex Life of Henry VIII
When we think of Henry VIII we think of a big, blood thirsty tyrant. But was there more to this caricature of a king then we give him credit for? Joining Kate today to help us get to know this man better is the fantastic Tracy Borman, author of Henry VIII and the men who made him ... Show More
46m 21s
Jun 2024
Tudor Origins of the Condom
What were condoms like in Tudor times? Before you were able to pop to the supermarket to pick some up, where did people buy them? Joining Kate today is historian Dr. Kate Stephenson, to explore what the earliest evidence of condoms is, just how effective they were, and to smash s ... Show More
45m 55s
May 2024
Henry VIII's Mother & Grandmothers
Henry VIII’s is infamous for his relationships with women. The domineering King took 6 wives during his 36 years on the throne. And he disposed of them with as much scandal as he wooed them – Divorced, Beheaded, Died, Divorced, Beheaded, Survived. But three other women had an imp ... Show More
28m 28s
Feb 2024
Queen Elizabeth I’s Suitors & Lovers, 2/2: Courting a Queen
Elizabeth I of England and Ireland reigned for 45 years over a golden age of peace, prosperity and flourishing art and culture. And she shocked the medieval world by doing it all without a man. But that certainly wasn’t for lack of proposals. Elizabeth had at least 16 suitors in ... Show More
31m 24s