From Elizabeth of York - wife of Henry VII, the first Tudor monarch - through to Elizabeth I, her grand-daughter and the last in the line, this book explores some of the most colorful and dramatic women in British history. Queen consorts were central to the Royal Court but their role has rarely been examined or contrasted with the better known ruling queens. How did they behave (in and out of the bedchamber)? How powerful were they as patrons of learning and the arts? What religious views did they espouse and why? How successful and influential were they?

Contents: 1. The queen as trophy: Catherine de Valois; 2. The queen as dominatrix: Margaret of Anjou; 3. The queen as lover: Elizabeth Woodville; 4. The queen as helpmate: Elizabeth of York; 5. The queen as foreign ally: Catherine of Aragon and Anne of Cleves; 6. The domestic queens: Anne Boleyn, Jane Seymour and Catherine Parr; 7. The queen as whore: Catherine Howard; 8. The queens who never were: Jane Grey and Mary Stuart; 9. The married sovereign: Mary I; 10. The unmarried sovereign: Elizabeth I; Epilogue: Queens since 1603.

David Loades is one of the leading historians of the Tudor monarchy. He is the author of the definitive biography of Elizabeth's half-sister, Mary Tudor: A Life (1989) and of The Tudor Court (second edition, 2003). He is Honorary Research Professor at the University of Sheffield and Director of the British Academy John Foxe Project.