Queen Liz - !!!NEW!!!

I'm at a Tudor event today so, again, a parody song with a suitable theme was required.

Bang Bang Queen Liz not by Jessie J, Ariana Grande & Nicki Minaj
She was the second daughter (of) a king
But her life would not be an easy time
She survived such a lot of trouble and
Soon you’ll see that it will be her turn to shine oh 

She’s been waiting for her
Time to fine’ly occur
See everybody that now bows to her
She is the sole Queen of all England, yeah

Queen Liz there she goes now (she has reached the top)
Queen Liz ruling the town (the cream of the crop)
She’s in charge and there is no other (ah-ooh)
She’s in charge of you (ah, hey)

Queen Liz sits on the throne (you know she earned it)
Queen Liz she rules alone (nobody will take it)
She’s in charge and there is no other (ah-ooh)
She’s in charge of you (ah, hey)

You might've thought she didn’t stand a chance
After her dad said she’s a bastard
But she will prove now just how wrong you are
Because she is now here to stay for good, oh

She is now the only in thing
She does not need a king
See everybody that now bows to her
She is the sole Queen of all England, yeah

Queen Liz there she goes now (she has reached the top)
Queen Liz ruling the town (the cream of the crop)
She’s in charge and there is no other (ah-ooh)
She’s in charge of you (ah, hey)

Queen Liz sits on the throne (you know she earned it)
Queen Liz she rules alone (nobody will take it)
She’s in charge and there is no other (ah-ooh)
She’s in charge of you (ah, hey)

The Virgin Queen, she’s brand new on the scene
She’s wants to know she’s seen, and how, how
Dripping in jewellery, so many gems it’s scary
Clearly not ordinary – oh wow wow
She’s now the boss, doesn’t give a toss
If you want a Protestant on the throne
What she says it goes, Queen Liz clearly knows
Just how to strike a pose, and it shows

She’s the queen of the castle, she won’t tolerate hassle
You have no chance to tussle, need to accept you’re her vassal
Do not fight her, or flight her, don’t fright her, or smite her
If you want to survive her reign then you better not spite her

T and a U and a D and a O and a R-
T and a U and a D and a O and a R-
See everybody that now bows to her
She is the sole Queen of all England, yeah

England, hey (okay)

Queen Liz there she goes now (she has reached the top)
Queen Liz ruling the town (the cream of the crop)
She’s in charge and there is no other (ah-ooh)
She’s in charge of you (ah, hey) 

Queen Liz sits on the throne (you know she earned it)
Queen Liz she rules alone (nobody will take it)
She’s in charge and there is no other (ah-ooh)
She’s in charge of you (ah, hey)

Queen Liz there she goes now (she has reached the top)
Queen Liz ruling the town (the cream of the crop)

Yes, I said, queen, queen, queen, q- queen, queen
Queen, queen, queen, queen, q- queen, queen

Queen Liz sits on the throne (you know she earned it)
Queen Liz she rules alone (nobody will take it)
She’s in charge and there is no other (ah-ooh)
She’s in charge of you (ah, hey)

From The Mind of Merc - The Tudor Curse

 Then a Mind of Merc post in which today I was thinking about the mortality of the Tudor heirs and, more specifically, whether it could be said that a curse haunted the Tudor monarchs as this issue wasn’t just exclusive to Henry VIII and his desperate quest to produce a male heir to succeed him as it struck both before and after his reign.

 An example of potential victims of this curse are:

- Arthur Tudor (eldest son of Henry VII) – born 1486, died 1501 (aged 15)
- Edmund Tudor (youngest son of Henry VII) – born 1499, died 1500 (aged 1)
- Henry Tudor (eldest son of Henry VIII) – born 1511, died 1511 (aged 2 months)
- Henry Fitzroy (illegitimate son of Henry VIII) – born 1519, died 1536 (aged 17)
- Edward VI (son of Henry VIII & Jane Seymour) – born 1537, died 1553 (aged 15)

While the majority of these are generally believed to be due to tuberculosis, or even plague, I wonder if they could possibly be linked to (or even caused by) the similar(?) malady of sweating sickness.

This unpleasant little disease is in itself interesting as it only appears in history during the Tudor era but this was more than enough time to have done plenty of damage including reportedly killing off Henry VII’s eldest son and heir, Arthur. It is said to have come across to England with Henry VII when he came to combat Richard III at Bosworth and the subsequent theory is therefore slightly ironic in that seeking to overthrow the previous monarch, Henry VII sealed the fate of his own son (thus also changing to course of English history yet again by making his younger son, Henry, his sole heir and, in time, leading to the Break With Rome).

To further this theory (and admittedly this part takes a bit of a leap) the last recorded occurrence of the disease is reputed to have been in 1551 – later than either of the Henrys but still in time to kill off the only two male heirs of Henry VIII’s best friend and companion, Charles Brandon – perhaps the virus thought him guilty by association. 

What makes it even more interesting is the virus was even said to have a penchant for Englishmen as during the 1517 outbreak foreign visitors were reported to be less likely to succumb and during the 1528 it didn’t breach the Calais border into territorial France or even the northern border into Scotland.

As well as this, although by no means confined to royalty as it also did for other connected persons such as William Carey (husband of Mary Boleyn) and the wife and children of Thomas Cromwell it was said to target or perhaps favour the rich and powerful – surely an odd characteristic for a disease.

Could it be then that Henry VII brought this malady on his people himself? Both physically by bringing it across with his army and spiritually by inviting it through some unspeakable act that earned him this vengeful response with its first notable victim being Henry VII’s eldest son and heir and the last being the two sons of his successor’s best friend (as well as the sole heir of his loyal adviser)?

We may never know but it is still an intriguing theory.