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The White Princess
The White Princess (2017) title card.png
Genre Drama
Historical fiction
Written by
  • Emma Frost
  • Sarah Dollard
  • Loren McLaughlan
  • Amy Roberts
  • Alice Nutter
  • Sarah Phelps
Directed by
Starring
Composer(s) John Lunn
Country of origin
  • United States
  • United Kingdom
Original language(s) English
No. of episodes 8 (list of episodes)
Production
Executive producer(s)
  • Emma Frost
  • Jamie Payne
  • Colin Callender
  • Scott Huff
  • Michele Buck
Producer(s)
  • Lachlan MacKinnon
  • Rashida Acharya
Cinematography Chris Seager
Editor(s)
  • St. John O'Rorke
  • Anne Sopel
  • Jamie Trevill
Running time 60 minutes
Production company(s)
  • Company Pictures
  • Playground
Release
Original network
  • Starz (US)
  • Drama (UK)
Original release 16 April (2017-04-16) – 4 June 2017 (2017-06-04)
Chronology
Related shows The White Queen
The Spanish Princess

The White Princess is a historical drama television miniseries developed for Starz. It is based on Philippa Gregory's 2013 novel of the same name and, to a lesser extent, its 2014 sequel The King's Curse. It is a sequel to the 2013 miniseries The White Queen, which adapted three of Gregory's previous novels, and begins immediately where The White Queen finished.

In the eight-episode series, the marriage of Henry VII and Elizabeth of York effectively ends the Wars of the Roses by uniting the houses of Lancaster and York. However, their mutual enmity and distrust, as well as the political plots of their mothers, threaten to tear both the marriage and the kingdom apart.

Cast and characters

Main

  • Michelle Fairley by Gage Skidmore 2 (cropped)

    Michelle Fairley (Margaret)

  • Patrick Gibson by Gage Skidmore

    Patrick Gibson (Perkin)

  • Suki Waterhouse (35450919821) (cropped - head shot)

    Suki Waterhouse (Cecily)

Recurring

Guest

Episodes

No. Title  Directed by  Written by  Original air date  US viewers
(millions)
1 "In Bed With The Enemy" Jamie Payne Emma Frost April 16, 2017 (2017-04-16) 0.633
22 August 1485 – 18 January 1486: Arriving triumphantly in London after defeating Richard III at the Battle of Bosworth, the new king Henry Tudor is compelled to wed Elizabeth of York—whom he despises due to her purported affair with Richard—to join the warring houses of Lancaster and York. Lizzie hates Henry as well, even more so when he insists on getting her pregnant before committing himself to marry her. Recognizing the influence over Henry that her new pregnancy gives her, Lizzie decides to play the part of dutiful wife as she and her mother, the former Queen consort Elizabeth, plot against the Tudors.
2 "Hearts and Minds" Jamie Payne Emma Frost April 23, 2017 (2017-04-23) 0.712
1486: Henry embarks on a tour of the kingdom to assert his sovereignty. Planning to accompany him to secretly rally York supporters, Lizzie's mother Elizabeth is instead neutralized by Henry's own mother Margaret Beaufort and locked up in Westminster Palace. Henry survives an assassination attempt by Yorkist Francis Lovell but suspects Lizzie's involvement; she recognizes it as her mother's handiwork, and denounces any intentions to actually kill Henry. In his absence, Lizzie wins favor with the common people by seizing funds from the royal treasury to aid those threatened by the sweating sickness. Though she is unable to convince Henry to free her young cousin Edward Plantagenet from the Tower of London, Lizzie reinforces Henry's growing attachment to her.
3 "Burgundy" Jamie Payne Emma Frost April 30, 2017 (2017-04-30) 0.784
September 1486: Lizzie gives birth to Prince Arthur, and finds common ground with Henry. Jasper Tudor visits Margaret of Burgundy, seeking an alliance, but peace negotiations are suddenly aborted by the death of Margaret's stepdaughter Mary. In the meantime, Henry's mother convinces him to imprison Lizzie's mother Elizabeth, but Lizzie sways him enough to have her moved to Bermondsey Abbey. Lizzie is crowned Queen of England.
4 "The Pretender" Alex Kalymnios Sarah Dollard & Emma Frost May 7, 2017 (2017-05-07) 0.845
1487: As plans are made to safely marry the York princesses to Tudor loyalists, Margaret of Burgundy raises an army behind a peasant boy she has declared is Teddy Plantagenet. Lizzie convinces Henry to release the real Teddy from the Tower and make a public display that he is reconciled with the Tudors. Margaret Beaufort, the King's Mother, arranges a crowd disturbance that sends Teddy back to the Tower as a threat to Henry's rule. Henry defeats the pretender's forces and shows mercy to the boy. Although Margaret declares the Dowager Queen Elizabeth complicit in the conspiracy, Henry declines to execute his wife's mother.
5 "Traitors" Alex Kalymnios Loren McLaughlan & Amy Roberts May 14, 2017 (2017-05-14) 0.951
1492-1495: Margaret of Burgundy is rallying European support around a boy she recognizes as the true heir to the English throne, Lizzie's brother Richard Plantagenet, the Duke of York. Henry sends Lizzie's cousin Maggie, now Lady Pole, to prove that the boy is an impostor. Henry enobles his own second son Henry as the Duke of York, but Lizzie's mother, the Dowager Queen, interrupts the ceremony with a pronouncement that her son, the rightful King of England, is alive in Burgundy. Though partially convinced of Richard's authenticity, Maggie declares him an impostor when questioned by Henry. Jasper learns that Margaret Beaufort, the King's Mother, ordered the murders of the Princes in the Tower and is outraged; to preserve her secret, Margaret smothers a sick Jasper to death while he is in bed.
6 "English Blood on English Soil" Alex Kalymnios Emma Frost & Alice Nutter May 21, 2017 (2017-05-21) 0.792
1496: William Stanley is executed for his support for the pretender Perkin Warbeck, who with the help of a marriage with the Scottish noblewoman Catherine Gordon, is gaining the support of most European kingdoms except Spain. Lizzie and Henry travel to Spain to seek an alliance, but Queen Isabella of Castile refuses to help the king until his traitors are dealt with. After the death of the Dowager Queen Elizabeth, Lizzie inspires Henry's men to fight against the pretender, who ultimately finds sanctuary in a monastery. Warbeck is later retrieved by the King's Mother, who drags him to London pending Henry's reckoning.
7 "Two Kings" Jamie Payne Emma Frost May 28, 2017 (2017-05-28) 0.722
1496: Though Warbeck, his wife, and their son are prisoners, he refuses to renounce his claim to the throne. Maggie becomes an unlikely spy for her aunt, Margaret of Burgundy. Lizzie is convinced that Warbeck is her brother, but knows that his existence threatens her husband and sons. She starts a fire to allow him to escape, but he refuses.
8 "Old Curses" Jamie Payne Sarah Phelps June 4, 2017 (2017-06-04) 0.868
December 1496 Lizzie finally admits to Henry that she and her mother cursed her brothers' murderers; if Henry kills Warbeck—who she believes is Richard—he will visit the curse on their sons. Lizzie offers up an imposter to be executed in Warbeck's place, but Margaret of Burgundy is not fooled. Henry nearly strangles his mother as he realizes that she murdered the Princes in the Tower, cursing his bloodline. With the ruse discovered, Lizzie realizes that the only way to secure the alliance with Spain and assure her sons' futures is to allow her brother and Teddy to be executed. The King's Mother remarks to a furious Lizzie how alike they are.

Production

Development

The 10-part 2013 television series The White Queen adapted Gregory's previous novels The White Queen (2009), The Red Queen (2010) and The Kingmaker's Daughter (2012). The series was broadcast on BBC One in the United Kingdom and on Starz in the United States, and features Freya Mavor as a young Elizabeth of York. Despite initial plans for a second series, on 20 August 2013 the BBC announced they were not commissioning one, possibly because of the lukewarm reception the series received.

However, in October 2013, The Telegraph reported that Starz was planning to develop a sequel miniseries called The White Princess, based on Gregory's novel. Starz CEO Chris Albrecht announced in January 2014 that the network was working with White Queen screenwriter Emma Frost on the project. Starz would produce the White Princess miniseries without involvement from the BBC. Gregory confirmed that the project was underway in August 2015. On 7 February 2016, Gregory announced on Facebook that the sequel was officially confirmed to be in production, with the scripts being written. The series was confirmed to be eight episodes in May 2016.

Jamie Payne, who directed three episodes of The White Queen, directed episodes 1, 2, 3, 7, and 8. Frost was the showrunner and executive producer. Lachlan MacKinnon is served as producer, with Gregory as executive producer. Playground's Colin Callender and Scott Huff also executive produced with Company Pictures' Michele Buck.

Casting

Jodie Comer was cast in the title role of Elizabeth of York in April 2016, with Michelle Fairley added as Margaret Beaufort in May. In June 2016, Starz announced the casting of Essie Davis as Dowager Queen Elizabeth, Jacob Collins-Levy as Henry VII, Suki Waterhouse as Cecily of York, Rebecca Benson as Margaret Plantagenet, and Joanne Whalley as Margaret, Duchess of Burgundy. The remaining cast includes Caroline Goodall as Duchess Cecily, Kenneth Cranham as Bishop Morton, Vincent Regan as Jasper Tudor and Rhys Connah as Teddy Plantagenet.

Filming

Principal photography began in June 2016, with locations including Bradford on Avon, Bristol, Berkeley Castle, Gloucester Cathedral, Lacock, Salisbury Cathedral, and Wells.

Release

In early January 2017, the producers released a video clip from the series as a teaser trailer. In February 2017, Starz announced that The White Princess would premiere on 16 April 2017. In the UK the series began its satellite and terrestrial broadcasts on the Drama channel on 18 November 2017.

Continuation

On 15 March 2018, Starz announced that it will create a continuation of The White Queen and The White Princess to be titled The Spanish Princess, which will be based on Gregory's novels The Constant Princess and The King's Curse and center on Catherine of Aragon.

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