Is The Other Boleyn Girl based on a true story?

It's a work of historical fiction built around real Tudor-era figures — Mary and Anne Boleyn, Henry VIII, and Catherine of Aragon. Philippa Gregory draws on the documented outline of their lives (Mary's earlier liaison with the king, Anne's rise to queen, her 1536 execution on charges of adultery and incest), but the inner lives, motives and many scenes are the author's invention rather than historical record, and some historians have disputed specific details, including Mary's exact relationship with Anne.

Where does The Other Boleyn Girl fit in Philippa Gregory's Tudor novels?

It was the first of Gregory's Tudor novels to be published (2001), but it sits at #9 in the internal chronology of "The Plantagenet and Tudor Novels" series, which spans the Wars of the Roses through the later Tudor reigns. Readers can start here on its own; it does not require the earlier entries.

Did The Other Boleyn Girl win any awards?

Yes — it won the Romantic Novelists' Association's Romantic Novel of the Year Award in 2002, the year after its publication.

The Other Boleyn Girl by Philippa Gregory

Mary Boleyn is fourteen when her uncle puts her in King Henry VIII's path, hoping to win royal favor for the ambitious Howard and Boleyn families. She succeeds, becoming the king's mistress and bearing him children he cannot acknowledge — but when Henry's interest shifts to her sharper, more calculating sister Anne, Mary is drawn into engineering her own replacement. Narrated by Mary, the novel follows Anne's campaign to become queen, her failure to give Henry a son, and her fall on charges of adultery and incest that end at the executioner's block, set against Henry's break from Rome and the religious upheaval it caused.

Prose complexity: 7/10

Emotional Dark Reflective Atmospheric

Morally Grey Betrayal Forbidden Love Rivals

Historical Fiction

P

Philippa Gregory

Philippa Gregory was born on 9 January 1954 in Nairobi, Kenya, the second daughter of Elaine (Wedd) and Arthur Percy Gregory, a radio operator and navigator for East African Airways. When she was two years old, her family moved to England. She was a "rebel" at school, but managed to attend the University of Sussex. She worked in BBC radio for two years before attending the University of Edinburgh, where she earned her doctorate in 18th-century literature, and she was named Alumna of the Year 200...

Jane SeymourSupporting

A lady-in-waiting at court who catches Henry VIII's eye as his marriage to Anne Boleyn sours, and later becomes his third wife.

Mary I of EnglandSupporting

Catherine of Aragon's daughter, displaced as heir when Henry VIII sets aside her mother to marry Anne Boleyn.

Catherine of AragonSupporting

Henry VIII's first wife, whose marriage is set aside as the king pursues Anne Boleyn in his search for a male heir.

Elizabeth I of EnglandSupporting

The daughter born to Henry VIII and Anne Boleyn; her birth, a girl rather than the hoped-for son, hastens Anne's fall from favor.

All characters in The Other Boleyn Girl

Frequently asked questions

Is The Other Boleyn Girl based on a true story?
It's a work of historical fiction built around real Tudor-era figures — Mary and Anne Boleyn, Henry VIII, and Catherine of Aragon. Philippa Gregory draws on the documented outline of their lives (Mary's earlier liaison with the king, Anne's rise to queen, her 1536 execution on charges of adultery and incest), but the inner lives, motives and many scenes are the author's invention rather than historical record, and some historians have disputed specific details, including Mary's exact relationship with Anne.
Where does The Other Boleyn Girl fit in Philippa Gregory's Tudor novels?
It was the first of Gregory's Tudor novels to be published (2001), but it sits at #9 in the internal chronology of "The Plantagenet and Tudor Novels" series, which spans the Wars of the Roses through the later Tudor reigns. Readers can start here on its own; it does not require the earlier entries.
Did The Other Boleyn Girl win any awards?
Yes — it won the Romantic Novelists' Association's Romantic Novel of the Year Award in 2002, the year after its publication.