I'm delighted to welcome fellow historical fiction author Tony Riches to the blog for a guest post about his new book, Queen Anna. After fourteen years and twelve books bringing the Tudor court to life, including his bestselling Tudor trilogy and the Brandon trilogy, Tony has turned his attention to the Stuarts, starting with Anna of Denmark.

Anna is exactly the kind of woman I love featuring here: connected to three kings as daughter, wife and mother, yet rarely given her due in the history most of us were taught. Below, Tony shares what drew him to her story and what a year of research uncovered.

His new novel Queen Anna is Book One of the Stuart Queens Trilogy.

Book Description

A crown won in the eye of a storm.

A queen who refuses to be broken...

Princess Anna of Denmark sails for Scotland to marry King James VI, but storms ravage her fleet, igniting a deadly obsession with witchcraft in her new home. Arriving in a strange and paranoid court, Anna finds her new husband’s bed is a treacherous place.

Surrounded by whispering courtiers and shifting alliances, Anna refuses to remain a passive pawn. When the court takes her children to raise them away from her, the young queen draws her line in the sand.

From the windswept castles of Scotland to the glittering, dangerous English court, Anna is restored to her rightful place in history.

Buy Links

Queen Anna (Stuart Queens Trilogy Book One) is available in paperback and eBook from:

https://mybook.to/QueenAnna

https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B0H887BHZ6

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0H887BHZ6

Guest Post

Discovering Anna of Denmark, by Tony Riches

After fourteen years researching and writing the twelve books which tell the story of the Tudors, it seemed natural to explore the succession in more detail and understand the rise of the Stuarts.

I discovered Anna’s story while writing about Bess and Walter Raleigh, and like most people, knew little about her life. I’ve enjoyed the year of research behind this book, uncovering primary sources – and even learning a little Danish!

With notable exceptions, Anna is largely overlooked by historians, and I found myself wondering about the image of her as shallow, with little influence. I don’t recall her being mentioned in my history lessons at school, but Anna was the daughter of a king, wife of a king and mother of a king.

I became intrigued by the idea of a young Danish princess being forced by her parents into a strategic, arranged marriage with King James of Scotland. Anna had to leave her friends, her family, and everything she knew, for a strange country across a dangerous sea where she could barely speak the language.

There is also the question of her relationship with King James, and how they had so many children. As well as her daughter Elizabeth, the ‘Winter Queen’ of Bohemia, Anna was the mother of Henry, possibly the greatest king we never had, and the ill-fated King Charles I.

I enjoyed following Anna to England after the death of Queen Elizabeth I, and making a new life died as queen consort of three kingdoms. She ordered the old queen’s priceless gowns to be used as costumes in her legendary masques, and slept in the same bedchamber as Queen Jane Seymour, her favourite bed.

Anna proved to be a resilient woman and devoted mother to her children. She was a creative patron of the arts, and did her best to be a loyal queen consort to King James. I am now researching the second book in this trilogy, and exploring troubled the life of Henrietta Maria of France, queen consort to King Charles I.

Tony Riches is a full-time UK author of historical fiction. He lives with his wife in Pembrokeshire, West Wales and is a specialist in the lives of the early Tudors. As well as his Elizabethan series, Tony’s historical fiction novels include the best-selling Tudor trilogy and his Elizabethan series. For more information about Tony’s books please visit his website tonyriches.com and his blog, The Writing Desk and find him on Facebook, Instagram, Bluesky and Twitter @tonyriches.

Author Links:

Website: https://www.tonyriches.com/

Writing blog: https://tonyriches.blogspot.com/

Twitter: https://twitter.com/tonyriches

Bluesky: https://bsky.app/profile/tonyriches.bsky.social

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/tonyriches.author

Podcasts: https://tonyriches.podbean.com/