The exciting true story of the first heiress to the throne of England!
Born in 1102 to King Henry of England and Queen Matilda of Scotland, Matilda's uniquely royal Norman, Saxon, and Scottish heritage was meant to unify an England still divided by her grandfather's conquest in 1066. When the 1120 White Ship Disaster made her the only surviving child of her parents, Matilda suddenly became heiress to the English throne in a time when the old Saxon Witan, not the king's Will, still decided the succession.
Adapted from the narrative biography of the same name, this five act drama takes audiences across medieval Christendom to explore the fascinating life of the Angevin dynasty's forgotten princess royal.
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KING HENRY
(walking down the stairs from the upper gallery to the altar)
You are still in mourning, Matilda.
MATILDA ENGLAND
(bowing)
Mein König!
KING HENRY
You are not empress and this is not Germany.
MATILDA ENGLAND
Ja, mein König.
KING HENRY
(growling)
Stop calling me that and speak English, Matilda.
MATILDA ENGLAND
Pourquoi?
KING HENRY
Parce que je suis le roi d’Angleterre et vous êtes ma fille!
QUEEN ADELZA
(stepping into the light where Matilda and Henry can see her)
Oui, sa est ta fille, Henri.
(curtsies to Matilda)
Guten Morgen, meine Kaiserin. Fröhliche Weihnachten.
MATILDA ENGLAND
Fröhliche Weihnachten. You must be my step-mother.
QUEEN ADELIZA
I am. Adelheid von Löwen; the English and French call me Adeliza de Louvain. I am pleased to finally meet you, Matilda. Please do forgive that I was not here when you first arrived. I spent much of the autumn at Arundel castle.
MATILDA ENGLAND
Löwen? Are you the daughter of Count Godfrey?
QUEEN ADELIZA
Ja, meine Kaiserin. My father wishes me to tell you that he voted in opposition to Lothar in the Kurfürstenkollegium. If you were not my step-daughter—or precisely because you are my step-daughter—I would see you rule the empire until it is time for you to join the Kaiser at the side of our Lord Jesus Christ. Your father and I quarrelled over your recall to England.
