Philippa Gregory's "The White Queen"

Did you know that Bruges is going to be the background of the 10-part BBC series “The White Queen”?



The White Queen is one of the novels of historical fiction author Philippa Gregory. Another of her novels, The Other Boleyn Girl, has also been filmed already.

The BBC is coproducing with Belgian TV (Eén) and the scenes with exclusively be filmed in Bruges and its environs. Locations will be the Town Hall of Bruges, the castle of Rumbeke and the town itself. The entire film crew consists of about 200 people and they will stay in Bruges for 125 days.

                               
                                               (filming in the Town Hall of Bruges)

The White Queen is the first in the Cousin’s War series and continues with The Red Queen, The Lady of the Rivers and The Kingmaker’s Daughter. It is a stunningly rich tale of love and loss, seduction and deception, betrayal and murder, vibrantly woven through the stories of three different yet equally driven women, in their quest for power as they manipulate behind the scenes of history – Elizabeth Woodville, Margaret Beayfort and Anne Neville.

The year is 1464 and England has been at war for nine years battling over who is the rightful King of England – it is a war between two sides of the same family, The House of York and The House of Lancaster.

The House of York’s young and devilishly handsome Edward IV (played by Max Irons) is crowned King of England with the help of the master manipulator Lord Warwick “The Kingmaker” (James Frain). But when Edward falls in love and secretly marries a beautiful young widow, the commoner Elizabeth Woodville, introducing the actress Rebecca Ferguson, Warwick’s plan for control over the English throne comes crashing down around him. Frustrated by the new Queen’s influence he will stop at nothing to maintain his grip on the King….

The most beautiful woman in the land, Elizabeth Woodville marries for the love of her King, with the help of her mother Jacquetta (Janet McTeer) a self-proclaimed sorceress. Elizabeth’s most fierce adversary is the staunchly loyal Lancastrian Margaret Beaufort (Amanda Hale) – a damaged and highly religious woman who would willingly lay down her life to see her young son Henry Tudor take the throne. And then there is Anne Neville (introducing Faye Marsay), Lord Warwick The Kingmaker’s daughter – a pawn in her father’s battle for control; who finds her strength and ambition when she takes control of her destiny and marries the King’s younger brother Richard Duke of York (Aneurin Bernard).