‘The White Princess’ Recap: Is Henry’s War On The Battlefield, Or At Home?

Courtesy of STARZ

Even confinement can’t stop Elizabeth Woodville from trying to overthrow the monarchy, that much is true. But can her plans be thwarted? King Henry is going to war with the Yorks, but Lizzie learns that the threats against her husband are coming from closer to home.

It’s about time! The White Princess has been building up to a battle between the Tudors and the Yorks (at least one we can watch) since its pilot. In episode four, the Yorks in Burgundy have geared up to take down King Henry’s men in an all-out battle at the word of Duchess Margaret (Joanne Whalley). She has a spectacular, albeit morbid plan to win this thing. What she didn’t remember are that the Tudors have a lot of knights. Like, a lot.

King Henry (Jacob Collins-Levy), is awfully tired of Elizabeth Woodville (Essie Davis) putting out hits on him and he’s willing to battle to the bitter end to at least get some sense of safety. It starts with Princess Cecily’s (Suki Waterhouse) royal wedding. Unlike Lizzie’s (Jodie Comer) incredibly dour ceremony, Cecily is dressed to the nines in a golden gown, and gets her own parade through the town. Henry is kind enough to let Teddy (Albert de Jongh) out of the tower to attend the wedding.

But Lady Elizabeth has paid a townswoman to rile up the people to pledge their allegiance to the boy who would become York King. Teddy is snatched up by knights and taken away, to god knows where. It’s not the last we see of him, though. Well, kind of. Duchess Margaret’s bright idea is to get a stand-in child to pretend to be Teddy, and force him to lead the York battle. What she forgot about is that Henry and Jasper Tudor (Vincent Regan) know what Teddy looks like. Why did she think that would work? He gets snatched up and taken back to the castle for his treason.

Another treasonist? Elizabeth Woodville. Lizzie is sick of her trying to overthrow the Tudors, and tells her just as much while visiting the abbey. She is full Tudor now because of her son Arthur. He is the future Tudor king, and she would never take that away from him. She’s done with her mother. Despite the fact that Lady Margaret still does terrible things — like marrying off all the York girls to Tudor men — Lizzie is on her side.

‘The White Princess’ — See Pics From The Epic Historical Drama

The marriage plot actually turns out well for poor Maggie (Rebecca Benson). She is so, utterly scared of being married to some stranger. But her new husband is actually a kind man who promises to take care of her, and truly loves her for who she is. He was just as scared of getting married as she was! He’s a gentle soul who promises to take her to London whenever she wishes so she can see Teddy.

Speaking of marriage, things are going well for Lizzie and Henry. Knowing that she’s finally on her side, he kicks his mother out of the queen’s quarters and gives it to his wife and child. It was odd that he didn’t before. But in truth, it’s because his mother barged in on him and Lizzie having sex. Oops. Remember at the end of episode three when Lizzie crawled into his bed in the middle of the night? The couple looked madly and love in the morning light. Lizzie gives Henry a lock of Arthur’s hair and makes him promise not to fight in the battle, so that he may come home safe to his family. It really seems like they’re finally going to find happiness together.

HollywoodLifers, do you think Lizzie’s mother will plot against Henry again, or is she done scheming?