Katherine employs the queen's gambit the first time she plays chess with Henry. How does this game foreshadow Katherine's relationship with Henry? Why do you think the book is titled Queen's Gambit?

The first time we encounter Henry, he invites Katherine to play against him in a game of chess. When she makes her first play, she employs the queen's gambit. How does this game foreshadow Katherine's relationship with Henry? Why do you think Fremantle chose Queen's Gambit as the book's title?

Katherine employs the queen's gambit the first time she plays chess with Henry. How does this game foreshadow Katherine's relationship with Henry? Why do you think the book is titled Queen's Gambit?

Conned into a chess game by Henry, Katherine has little choice but to play. Realizing that the King is baiting her when he asks her opinion of Thomas Seymour, she refuses to take Henry's bait. Henry sees her shrewd answer to his question in terms of chess. She wins the point by suggesting that while Seymour can be seen outwardly as the best choice, there are those who believe that maturity is more desirable than good looks. And Henry immediately sees how she has not let herself be trapped. Thus he says,"Queen's gambit accepted."

Katherine's life as Henry's Queen will be lived on a chess board. Her "moves" are life and death choices.
Thus the title "Queen's Gambit" perfectly describes the life of this 6th wife of Henry VIII."

The chess game, like the Queen's gambit itself, was the opening move in Katherine's relationship with Henry. She lives her entire relationship with him in very strategic fashion, revealing some things and hiding others - in particular her religious activities and her continuing feelings for Thomas Seymour, as she tries to protect herself from the fate of previous queen's. No checkmate for her!

Sandra's said it very well. From the moment she plays with Henry Katherine is playing for her life. Everything she does is a move or countermove and Henry plays very well. The title sets up the concept of a game with very high stakes.

Katherine's entire relationship with Henry is a chess game with potentially deadly stakes. Her every move with him had to be carefully measured to stay in his good graces. She constantly lived in fear that at any time he could dispose of her on a whim. In spite of this she played a deadly game in terms of her religious beliefs as well as her feelings for Thomas Seymour.

I agree with everyone. Every single thing done by Katherine was a chess move. She took some chances and said things, but, on the other hand, she hid other things well from certain prying eyes and ears. That is the only way one can survive as queen.

You know, the chess move "queen's gambit" is a move in which you sacrifice pieces in order to gain a better position. Surely as a chess player Henry would have known this. Was Thomas Seymour one of her sacrifices? Was the better position for her family, since she seemed to care nothing for it herself? Was the better position so that she might do great things? In history, she did reconcile Henry to his daughters, and help the fledgling Protestant movement somewhat. This is a question I want Ms. Freemantle to answer!

The chess game with Henry foreshadows her whole life with Henry and with Henry's court. She has to make many calculated moves to protect her life and the lives of others that she cares about. Each person in her life is like a living breathing piece in a chess game and like a chess game you sometimes have to give up minor players to protect the Queen.