The White Princess Trivia | 35 facts about the miniseries

«The White Princess» is a historical drama television miniseries developed for Starz.

Let’s find out more about the series!

1. The White Princess is a historical drama TV miniseries.
2. It was developed for Starz.
3. It is based on Philippa Gregory’s 2013 novel of the same name.
4. To a lesser extent, its 2014 sequel The King’s Curse.
5. It is a sequel to the 2013 miniseries The White Queen, which adapted three of Gregory’s previous novels.
6. It begins immediately where The White Queen finished.
7. The series consist of eight episodes.
8. The series revolves around the marriage of Henry VII and Elizabeth of York effectively ends the Wars of the Roses by uniting the houses of Lancaster and York. However, their mutual enmity and distrust, as well as the political plots of their mothers, threaten to tear both the marriage and the kingdom apart.
9. The 10-part 2013 television series The White Queen adapted Gregory’s previous novels The White Queen (2009), The Red Queen (2010) and The Kingmaker’s Daughter (2012).
10. The series was broadcast on BBC One in the United Kingdom and on Starz in the United States.
11. It features Freya Mavor as a young Elizabeth of York.
12. Despite initial plans for a second series, on 20 August 2013 the BBC announced they were not commissioning one, possibly because of the lukewarm reception the series received.
13. However, in October 2013, The Telegraph reported that Starz was planning to develop a sequel miniseries called The White Princess, based on Gregory’s novel.
14. Starz CEO Chris Albrecht announced in January 2014 that the network was working with White Queen screenwriter Emma Frost on the project.
15. Starz would produce the White Princess miniseries without involvement from the BBC.
16. Gregory confirmed that the project was underway in August 2015.
17. On 7 February 2016, Gregory announced on Facebook that the sequel was officially confirmed to be in production, with the scripts being written.
18. The series was confirmed to be eight episodes in May 2016.
19. Jamie Payne, who directed three episodes of The White Queen, directed episodes 1, 2, 3, 7, and 8.
20. Frost was the showrunner and executive producer. Lachlan MacKinnon is served as producer, with Gregory as executive producer.
21. Playground’s Colin Callender and Scott Huff also executive produced with Company Pictures’ Michele Buck.
22. The only original cast member from “The White Queen” who reprised their role in “The White Princess” was Caroline Goodall who portrayed Duchess Cecily, grandmother to the “White Princess” Elizabeth of York.
23. This series contains three actresses from the award-winning programme Game of Thrones (2011). This includes Michelle Fairley (Margaret Beaufort) who portrays Catelyn Stark, Essie Davis (Dowager Queen Elizabeth) who portrays Lady Crane and Rebecca Benson (Margaret Plantagenet) who portrays Talla Tarly.
24. There are striking similarities between the War of the Roses’ feuding families Lancaster and York and that of the fictional book and TV series Game of Thrones’ feuding families Lannister and Stark. Michelle Fairley portrays the strong and determined matriarch in each TV series, though in this she is on the Lancaster/Lannister side while her character of Catelyn Stark fights for her Stark/York side.
25. James Frain (Warwick) previously played Thomas Cromwell in the series The Tudors (2007), which focuses on King Henry VIII, son of Elizabeth and King Henry VII. The Tudors also depicts/dramatizes the fate of some of this miniseries’ characters, such as Margaret, Countess of Salisbury.
26. Caroline Goodall (Duchess Cecily) and Joanne Whalley (Margaret of Burgundy) play mother and daughter. However, the actresses were born only two years apart: Caroline Goodall was born in 1959 and Joanne Whalley in 1961.
27. Henry VII marked a new era in the British Monarchy. Since Richard II, there had been a peaceful transfer of power until Henry VI was deposed, a period of years. Since Henry VI, Edward IV and Richard III were both deposed. Despite the turmoil surrounding Mary’s ascent and the question of Lady Jane Grey’s rule (no opposition stood in the way of Mary’s attempt to take what, by right, hers), the Tudors successfully transferred power from one to the next. This continued into the Stuart line until Charles I was executed, a period of 186 years.
28. In 1486, the year Elizabeth of York became Queen Elizabeth, her mother was 49 and she was 20. Elizabeth Woodville would die in 1492 and Elizabeth of York in 1503. With a reign of 18 years, Elizabeth Woodville reigned longer than her daughter’s 16 years.
29. Lady Margaret Beaufort was only 42 when Henry became King at age 28. Jasper Tudor was 54 and his wife Catherine Woodville was 27.
30. Jodie Comer (Elizabeth of York) had previously worked with Aneurin Barnard, who played Richard III in The White Queen (2013).
31. Patrick Gibson who plays “The Boy” was in several episodes of The Tudors. He played a distant cousin of Henry VIIIs whose father was instrumental in the Pilgrimage of Grace.
32. Both Caroline Goodale who plays Duchess Cecily and Vincent Regan who plays Jasper Tudor both previously had roles dealing with royalty. Caroline Goodale played the mother of Mia Thermopolis the future Queen of Genovia in The Princess Diaries and Princess Diaries Two.
33. Vincent Regan played King Simon a fictional King of England in the TV show The Royals.
34. Jodie Comer and Rebecca Benson both appear in the same episode of Vera (2011) (series 3, episode 3, “Young Gods”).
35. Principal photography began in June 2016, with locations including Bradford on Avon, Bristol, Berkeley Castle, Gloucester Cathedral, Lacock, Salisbury Cathedral, and Wells.