Reading order
| # | Title | Published | Author | Buy on Amazon |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Murder Most Royal / King’s Pleasure | 1949 | Eleanor Burford / Hibbert | Buy |
| 2 | The Sixth Wife | 1953 | Eleanor Burford / Hibbert | Buy |
| 3 | The Spanish Bridegroom / For a Queen’s Love | 1954 | Eleanor Burford / Hibbert | Buy |
| 4 | Saint Thomas’ Eve / The King’s Confidante | 1954 | Eleanor Burford / Hibbert | Buy |
| 5 | Gay Lord Robert / Lord Robert / A Favorite of the Queen | 1955 | Eleanor Burford / Hibbert | Buy |
| 6 | Katharine, the Virgin Widow | 1961 | Eleanor Burford / Hibbert | Buy |
| 7 | The Shadow of the Pomegranate | 1962 | Eleanor Burford / Hibbert | Buy |
| 8 | The King’s Secret Matter | 1962 | Eleanor Burford / Hibbert | Buy |
| 9 | The Thistle and the Rose | 1963 | Eleanor Burford / Hibbert | Buy |
| 10 | Mary, Queen of France | 1964 | Eleanor Burford / Hibbert | Buy |
| 11 | Uneasy Lies the Head / To Hold the Crown | 1982 | Eleanor Burford / Hibbert | Buy |
The Tudor Saga by Eleanor Burford Hibbert, writing as Jean Plaidy, was the first of her major historical series, beginning with Murder Most Royal in 1949. That novel focuses on Anne Boleyn and Catherine Howard, two of Henry VIII’s wives who were executed. The series grew over three decades to encompass eleven novels covering the full Tudor period.
The Katharine trilogy (Katharine, the Virgin Widow; The Shadow of the Pomegranate; and The King’s Secret Matter) follows Catherine of Aragon from her arrival in England as a young Spanish princess through her divorce from Henry VIII. Saint Thomas’ Eve tells the story of Sir Thomas More, and The Sixth Wife covers Katherine Parr, Henry’s final wife. The Thistle and the Rose follows Henry VIII’s sister Margaret Tudor, whose marriage to the King of Scotland set the stage for the eventual union of the English and Scottish crowns.
Gay Lord Robert deals with Elizabeth I’s relationship with Robert Dudley, and Uneasy Lies the Head returns to the beginning of the dynasty with Henry VII. The Tudor Saga connects to the Plantagenet Saga before it and the Stuart Saga after it. Readers interested in the Tudor period as told through the voices of the queens themselves should also see the Queens of England series.