Do you need to watch The White Queen before The White Princess?

The White Princess is heading to BritBox for the first time in August. You’ll want to dive right into this historical fiction series. Before you do, you’ll need to keep in mind that this is a sequel series.

The White Princess follows on from The White Queen. The latter isn’t on BritBox, but you can stream it on Prime Video and Starz. Should you turn to that series before you binge-watch the sequel? Usually, the answer is yet, but it isn’t necessary for this one.

The White Princess is a standalone limited series

If you just wanted to watch the Jodie Comer series, you can do. The White Princess does pick up off the back of events in The White Princess, but the two were commissioned separately. They had different actors playing roles. While Rebecca Ferguson took on the role of Elizabeth Woodville and Amanda Hale played Maragaret Beaufort in The White Queen, those roles were played by Essie Davis and Michelle Fairley respectively in The White Princess.

The sequel series is more of a standalone limited series. You don’t need to remember the events of the first series to understand where everyone is in this story. The only part that is useful is the reminder that in The White Queen, Elizabeth Woodville smuggled her second son out when Richard wanted to take him to the Tower of London.

Get the full history with The White Queen first

Of course, while it is a standalone miniseries and does work on its own, it could be worth watching The White Queen before The White Princess. This will give you a fuller story of the events leading up to Henry VII sitting on the throne.

You’ll want to understand a little of the animosity between the houses of York and Lancaster. It’s worth understanding what happened to Edward IV and getting the version of events about the Princes in the Tower.

Just keep in mind that everything is based on the novels by Philippa Gregory. The books are historical fiction, and don’t follow true historical accounts of the time period.

So, do you need to watch The White Queen first? No, but it’s worth doing anyway. And you have time right now! You can move onto The Spanish Princess afterward, which follows Catherine of Aragon before she married Henry VIII.