The Bloody Crown: 10 Full-Cast Historical Dramas of Murder, Betrayal and Intrigue in the Houses of Normandy, Plantagenet, Tudor, Stuart and Saxe-Coburg

A crown worth killing for - Ten gripping full-cast dramas exploring the bloody history of Britain’s royal dynasties

Behind every crown lies a story of ambition, loyalty and betrayal – and across centuries of royal history, the struggle for power has rarely been peaceful.

Murder and mystery. Treachery and ambition. Rebellion and revenge. The history of the British Crown is a story of power fought for, won and lost – often at a terrible price. Spanning almost nine centuries, these ten thrilling dramas journey through time from the Norman kings and the Plantagenets to the Tudors, Stuarts and the House of Saxe-Coburg, bringing to life the rulers, rivals and royal outsiders whose actions shaped the course of history.

Dark Majesty explores the enduring mystery surrounding the death in the New Forest of William Rufus, son of William the Conqueror. Was it accident, or murder? In John, by the Grace of God, the troubled reign of King John is seen through the lens of his impious beliefs and fraught relationship with the Church. Collected together as The Golden Yoke of Sovereignty, four Plantagenet dramas – Time-honoured Lancaster, The Sun in Splendour, A Cry of Treason and A Crown for the Strong – follow the power struggle between Richard II and the great houses of Lancaster and York, the shifting loyalties of the Wars of the Roses, and Henry VII’s fight to secure his newly won throne.

We move into the Stuart age with The Lonely Conscience, a portrait of Charles II, his ambitious bastard son Monmouth, and his brother James, whose Catholic faith and ambitions threaten the succession. Crown of Dreams – a sequel to The Lonely Conscience – follows James II’s son, the ‘Old Pretender’, through exile and repeated attempts to reclaim the English throne. Beyond Britain, Crown of Solitude explores the private world of ‘Sisi’ – Elisabeth, Empress of Austria, the Princess Diana of her day. Bertie, meanwhile, focuses on Albert Edward, Prince of Wales, whose appetite for gambling and good living was matched by his talent for diplomacy and foreign affairs.

Among the distinguished casts are Joss Ackland, Robert Hardy, Judy Bennett, Andrew Sachs, Maurice Denham, Tony Britton, John Moffatt, Mary Wimbush, William Fox, Stephen Thorne and Sheila Allen.

Cast and credits

Written by Lydia Ragosin

Contents

Dark Majesty

John, by the Grace of God

The Golden Yoke of Sovereignty

1: Time-honoured Lancaster

2. The Sun in Splendour

3. A Cry of Treason

4. A Crown for the Strong

The Lonely Conscience

Crown of Dreams

Crown of Solitude

Bertie

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