THE WHITE QUEEN
10-part mini-series premieres Saturday (8/10) at 9 p.m. on Starz.
We’re going to try something new here on YourFamilyViewer.com, basically because I started this mini-series and really liked it. But, hoo-baby, it is not, not, not for younger viewers.
So every Friday (and, yes, I know this is late), I’m going to run a look at programming for the week ahead and point you toward programs that you can enjoy after the young ‘uns are asleep – or out with their friends, if you have teens in the house. And just because, as a grown up, I also write a wine blog, OddBallGrape.com, I’m going to pair my suggestions with an appropriate tipple. Why not? Most of the moms I know love wine.
So we’ve got The White Queen, based on the series of historical novels by Philippa Gregory, about the reign of Edward IV, of England, and the last years of the Wars of the Roses. Basically, it’s the same time frame as Shakespeare’s play, Richard the Third, and while there is almost as much machination and scheming going on, the series (and the books) look at it from the perspective of the women involved, specifically Elizabeth Woodville (Rebecca Ferguson), who married Edward IV, Margaret Beaufort (Amanda Hale), mother of Henry Tudor, eventually Henry VII, and Anne Neville (Faye Marsay), daughter of Lord Warwick and eventual wife of Richard III.
Yes, it’s a long story. Gregory did it in five books (although only three, The White Queen, The Red King and The Kingmaker’s Daughter, are part of this series), and the series is in 10 parts.
It is done rather well. Okay, the fact that most of the female main characters are running around with their hair uncovered seriously bugged me – married women of that era always wore something on their heads and would have considered themselves naked if their hair showed too much. That being said, they get a good many of the details right enough and the history right enough.
This being Starz, it gets a bit graphic on the sex side, which I have to confess I am not used to, but it wasn’t too startling and felt like it was more required Starz fare than really adding anything to the story. I haven’t read the books yet, but I have been informed that Gregory’s work is also rather lusty, so it may be more appropriate than I thought.
Mostly, it’s just fun. As for what to drink with it… the infamous butt of Malmsey comes to mind – Edward IV’s brother Clarence was supposed to have died in one of these super-sized casks. Turns out malmsey is actual malvasia, a grape variety grown here and there around the world, including California. We stumbled across a lovely sparkling one up in Livermore, but alas, can’t find it now.
The other fun thing about malvasia is that while it is a white wine, it is made both as a dry and a sweet wine. You can find it in wine stores, mostly, although we tend to stumble onto it during winery tours, which accounts for why we can’t think of where we had it last. But it is darned tasty stuff.
If you can’t find a malvasia (or just find it too morbid an option), any crisp white wine will do. We like sauvignon blanc, another wine with a good long history. It is The White Queen, after all.