The White Princess is a story of power, duty, and love. It follows the story of Henry VII of England and Elizabeth of York. These two names will sound familiar if you love English history, but is the series based on their true story?
The Starz series, which is heading to BritBox on Tuesday, Aug. 20, is based on a novel by Philippa Gregory. It is a sequel series to The White Queen, which followed the story of Elizabeth’s parents, King Edward IV and Elizabeth Woodville.
The novels by Gregory are considered historical fiction. She makes it clear that she writes her thoughts into what actually happened back then, using some theories including that Elizabeth Woodville didn’t just hand over her second son to Richard III. These elements were used to adapt the TV series.
The White Princess is loosely based on true history
There are certainly some historical elements to the show. Yes, the series does use some known people from history. We see the story of Henry VII and Elizabeth of York. There is the inclusion of Richard III, Elizabeth’s sisters and mother, and even Henry’s mother. There are many other people who pop up.
In fact, some of the events that happened in history are dramatized in this series. One of those is the arrival of a man claiming to be Elizabeth’s brother Richard. Remember the second son Elizabeth Woodville may have refused to hand over? Well, he was smuggled out, apparently, and here is he showing up. Yes, this happened in history, although it was proven to be a man called Perkin Warbeck.
The series itself is loosely based on history. Don’t take the story as fact. There is no proof that some events happened, such as the events on Elizabeth and Henry’s wedding night. We don’t exactly know what goes on behind closed doors, though. That’s why historical fiction is so popular. It tries to add some storyline to the parts of history that we don’t know.
Go into the series as you would the likes of Reign or The Tudors. It’s a fun look at what could have been and some of the stories of the past, but it’s only loosely based on historical events. This is made for entertainment and not as a history documentary.