The Uncrowned Queen

In 1330, Philippa of Hainault is married to the young Edward III but remains politically and financially restricted while Isabella of France and Roger Mortimer dominate the government. Philippa recognises that her husband cannot rule independently until he breaks their control.

This short prequel to The King’s Concubine centres on the coup that removed Mortimer and began Edward’s personal rule. It presents Philippa as an active adviser in the transition from a minority government shaped by deposition and imprisonment to the long reign that would define fourteenth-century England.