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The White Princess episode 4 recap: ‘The Pretender’

By Hector Cruz

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Margaret of Burgundy lines up forces against Henry Tudor using a fake Teddy Plantagenet as ‘The Pretender’ in episode 4 of “The White Princess.”

Last week’s accidental death of Mary of Burgundy during a race with Lord Strange in the midst of a peace envoy sent by King Henry VII to the Duchy spurs a battle between York loyalists and the first Tudor king in the latest episode of The White Princess.

Margaret, Duchess of Burgundy, is grief-stricken over the death of her stepdaughter as the episode opens, but soon devises a plan to have a peasant boy stand in for York heir Edward “Teddy” Plantagenet, currently held up in the Tower of London by Henry Tudor, as a means to gather forces to her cause against the king at the urging of her sister-in-law, Elizabeth Woodville, who’s also being held in confinement against her will despite the coronation of her daughter, Lizzie, as queen.

“They disturb our peace, and now we will disturb theirs,” Margaret vows.

The boy, Lambert, gives the episode its title, “The Pretender,” as word spreads that Teddy has allegedly escaped the tower, and will soon be leading an army against the king to claim his rightful place on the throne, which helps persuade Irish and Flemish forces to join the cause (along with some gold). The real Teddy is in fact still safely locked away, tearfully begging to be released during a visit with his sister, Maggie, who is soon to be married off along with the other York princesses.

He is, however, allowed to briefly be seen in public during Princess Cecily’s wedding procession to show that he’s still in Tudor custody. But things go south when a group of York supporters begin to call him King Warwick and vow their allegiance, causing him to be quickly whisked away, once again shattering Henry’s confidence in his ability to unite the country. Teddy, Maggie, and Lambert are just a few of the youngsters who are used as pawns in the battles of the adults in power, losing their innocence in the process.

That’s something that Lizzie and Henry have bonded over in acknowledging that they’ve had very little say in how their lives have turned out. These and other more intimate moments show that the couple’s iciness towards each other continues to thaw, even as their trust towards one another is continuously tested, as when Lizzie sneaks out to speak to her mother at the abbey in an attempt to gather information exonerating her from the current plot against Henry that could cost her her life.

As one couple unites, another would-be relationship in the palace crumbles apart. The will-they-or-won’t-they romance between Margaret Beaufort and her brother-in-law Jasper Tudor, who raised Henry in exile, seems to be off the table for now. The king’s mother, a deeply religious woman who grows guiltier with each longing gaze she exchanges with her son’s uncle, succumbs to Lizzie’s wishes to marry off Jasper to her aunt, Catherine Woodville, for the sake of the crown.

This comes after she seethes with jealousy at the thought of Jasper being “attentive” towards the Duchess of Burgundy. And though she longingly stares out the window while holding a chess piece used to represent him as he’s off to battle, she fails to tend to an injured Jasper following a Tudor victory after Lizzie reveals that she knows her true feelings for him. It’s just one of the power plays that the increasingly politically savvy Lizzie makes against her mother-in-law, including getting Henry to have her vacate the queen’s rooms by the episode’s end.

A second wedding takes place later in the episode as Maggie is married to Henry’s cousin Richard Pole, a much older (and larger) commander who was injured during battle. The teenager is visibly shaken as she enters the church where the ceremony is to take place.

The images of the wedding are juxtaposed with those of Lambert hesitantly leading the forces against Henry. He manages to survive but is exposed to the horrors of war in defeat. Meanwhile, Henry is victorious in defending his crown during his first battle since his victory against Richard III — his wife’s late uncle and rumored lover — at Bosworth Field. But at the advice of Lizzie, he never actually engages in any fighting himself, allowing his men to fight on his behalf, including Jasper, who’s stabbed several times but makes it home alive.

Credit: Starz

Lambert and Maggie are both in danger of suffering terrible fates at a young age, but luckily, both are given new beginnings. Maggie’s husband, Richard, turns out to be a gentle giant who consoles her on their wedding night after she initially trembles in fear at the sight of her new husband. He soon confesses that he doesn’t feel worthy of marrying someone of her stature, and pledges that they’ll visit London often so she can stay close to her brother, who remains locked in the tower.

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Lambert is also spared a much worst fate after being captured. Henry laughs off his mother’s calls to have the boy and his own mother-in-law executed for treason. Instead, Lambert is relegated to work in the kitchen at Richard’s urging, while the Dowager Countess is allowed to stay put for now.

The episode ends as Margaret of Burgundy is shown exasperatedly returning to her palace after retreating what was left of her forces when it became clear she was unsuccessful in her rebellion against the Tudors. But she’s given new hope when she instantly recognizes a visitor as her nephew, Richard, one of the young princes who was locked in a tower during her brother’s reign.

The latest development once again puts Henry’s rule in jeopardy, while continuing to put pressure on Lizzie’s relationships with her husband and her mother, though she’s aware that her true allegiance will always be with her son. But a curse put upon him by his own grandmother calls baby Arthur’s fate as the next King of England into question, as well as the fractious York-Tudor alliance.

The White Princess airs Sundays at 8 p.m. ET on Starz.

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