You'll find a lot of this story told more accurately in the films Young Bess and Lady Jane. But Nine Days A Queen has a certain charm to it, capturing the era of Tudor politics, religion, and romance. You'll find all three in this film, not necessarily in that order.
A dying Henry VIII names his son Edward to be the new King of England, the last Edward V was a child who only reigned 2 months and was murdered with his younger brother in the Tower Of London by his uncle who became the infamous Richard III. Edward VI managed to get 7 years in for a reign as a minor king. The boy who Mark Twain made the subject of his novel The Prince And The Pauper had a most unhappy reign as the regency which ruled in his name became just a struggle for power between factions. That is amply demonstrated in Nine Days A Queen. As for Edward VI he is played here by Desmond Tester, a sickly lad who by age and illness is unable to enforce his will.
The king's mother was Jane Seymour and her two brothers struggled for the regency and are played here by Felix Aylmer and Leslie Perrins. Waiting in the wings however is Cedric Hardwicke as the Earl Of Warwick who has some real ambitious plans. Let the two Seymours kill themselves off and he'll take the regency himself. But the tubercular Edward VI makes him regent and then dies.
Here religion comes to play. The new Anglican church was formed by Henry VIII and was by no means secure. Next in line was sister Mary Tudor so Warwick passes her by and pledges his fealty to Lady Jane Grey who was descended from Henry VIII's sister. Neva Pilbeam is Lady Jane and she is a learned and pious young woman and Protestant. Catholic Mary Tudor is deposed, but not for long.
Part of Warwick's plans was to marry the presumptive Queen to one of his sons Guilford Dudley. Young John Mills got his first real notice in the cinema as young Guilford. According to legend the two actually did fall in love. It was Jane's first, but Guilford who wasn't exactly an innocent when he met her supposedly vowed to give up his hedonistic ways, Jane so influenced him.
That is the charm this story holds, the young people really in love were just political pawns and as Mary Tudor who is played here by Gwen Ffrangcon Davies says she feels her more innocent than the rest around her. Yet she must die because ex-monarchs do make a convenient rallying point for rebels.
Mills and Pilbeam were marvelous as a Romeo and Juliet like pair. Had Master Will Shakespeare not been a Tudor scribe he might well have written a wonderful play about them as the central characters. Hardwicke was icy and overbearing the way Warwick has come down in history to us. And Desmond Tester is so pitiable as the young boy King Edward VI. One wonders if he had reached his majority in good health how history might have been different.
Nine Days A Queen isn't history, but wonderful historical romance.
A dying Henry VIII names his son Edward to be the new King of England, the last Edward V was a child who only reigned 2 months and was murdered with his younger brother in the Tower Of London by his uncle who became the infamous Richard III. Edward VI managed to get 7 years in for a reign as a minor king. The boy who Mark Twain made the subject of his novel The Prince And The Pauper had a most unhappy reign as the regency which ruled in his name became just a struggle for power between factions. That is amply demonstrated in Nine Days A Queen. As for Edward VI he is played here by Desmond Tester, a sickly lad who by age and illness is unable to enforce his will.
The king's mother was Jane Seymour and her two brothers struggled for the regency and are played here by Felix Aylmer and Leslie Perrins. Waiting in the wings however is Cedric Hardwicke as the Earl Of Warwick who has some real ambitious plans. Let the two Seymours kill themselves off and he'll take the regency himself. But the tubercular Edward VI makes him regent and then dies.
Here religion comes to play. The new Anglican church was formed by Henry VIII and was by no means secure. Next in line was sister Mary Tudor so Warwick passes her by and pledges his fealty to Lady Jane Grey who was descended from Henry VIII's sister. Neva Pilbeam is Lady Jane and she is a learned and pious young woman and Protestant. Catholic Mary Tudor is deposed, but not for long.
Part of Warwick's plans was to marry the presumptive Queen to one of his sons Guilford Dudley. Young John Mills got his first real notice in the cinema as young Guilford. According to legend the two actually did fall in love. It was Jane's first, but Guilford who wasn't exactly an innocent when he met her supposedly vowed to give up his hedonistic ways, Jane so influenced him.
That is the charm this story holds, the young people really in love were just political pawns and as Mary Tudor who is played here by Gwen Ffrangcon Davies says she feels her more innocent than the rest around her. Yet she must die because ex-monarchs do make a convenient rallying point for rebels.
Mills and Pilbeam were marvelous as a Romeo and Juliet like pair. Had Master Will Shakespeare not been a Tudor scribe he might well have written a wonderful play about them as the central characters. Hardwicke was icy and overbearing the way Warwick has come down in history to us. And Desmond Tester is so pitiable as the young boy King Edward VI. One wonders if he had reached his majority in good health how history might have been different.
Nine Days A Queen isn't history, but wonderful historical romance.